MHC Reconnaissance Survey Town Report - Secretary of the ...

MHC Reconnaissance Survey Town Report 

BOSTON 

Report Date: 1981 

Associated Regional Report: Boston Area 

Reconnaissance Survey Town Reports, produced for MHC’s Statewide Reconnaissance Survey 

between 1979 and 1987, introduce the historical development of each of the Commonwealth’s 

municipalities. Each report begins with an historic overview, a description of topography, 

and political boundaries. For the purposes of the survey, the historic period has been subdivided 

into seven periods: Contact (1500–1620), Plantation (1620–1675), Colonial (1675– 

1775), Federal (1775–1830), Early Industrial (1830-1870), Late Industrial (1870–1915), and 

Early Modern (1915–1940/55). Each report concludes with survey observations that evaluate 

the town’s existing historic properties inventory and highlight significant historic buildings, settlement 

patterns, and present threats to these resources. A bibliography lists key secondary resources. 

Town reports are designed for use together with a series of town maps that demarcate settlement 

patterns, transportation corridors and industrial sites for each historic period. These maps 

are in the form of color-coded, polyester overlays to the USGS topographic base map for each 

town on file and available for consultation at MHC. For further information on the organization 

and preparation of town reports, readers should contact MHC. 

Users should keep in mind that these reports are now two decades or more old. The information 

they contain, including assessments of existing knowledge, planning recommendations, understanding 

of local development, and bibliographic references all date to the time they were 

written. In some cases, information on certain topics was not completed. No attempt has been 

made to update this information. 

Electronic text was not available for digital capture, and as a result most of the reports have 

been scanned as PDF files. While all have been processed with optical character recognition, 

there will inevitably be some character recognition errors. 

The activity that is the subject of the MHC Reconnaissance Survey Town Report has been financed in part with Federal funds from the National Park 

Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. However, the contents and opinions do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Department of the 

Interior. This program receives Federal financial assistance for identification and protection of historic properties. Under Title VI of the Civil Rights 

Act of 1964, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Age Discrimination Act of 1975, as amended, the U.S. Department of the Interior 

prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, disability or age in its federally assisted programs. If you believe you have been 

discriminated against in any program, activity or facility as described above, or if you desire further information please write to: Office of Equal Opportunity, 

National Park Service, 1849 C Street, N.W., Washington, D.C., 20240. 

MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL COMMISSION 

William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth 

Chair, Massachusetts Historical Commission 

220 Morrissey Blvd. 

Boston, MA 02125 

www.sec.state.ma.us/mhc 

mhc@sec.state.ma.us / 617-727-8470

MHC RECONNAISSANCE SURVEY REPORT 

Date: January 1981 Community: Boston Proper 

I. TOPOGRAPHY 

The original Shawmut Peninsula, almost completely surrounded 

by water and mudflats, contained approximately 487 acres. It 

was joined to Roxbury by a narrow neck of an additional 296 

acres. On the north, the peninsula was bounded by the Charles 

River; on the south by Roxbury Bay; by Charles River mudflats 

on the west; and Massachusetts Bay on the east. The peninsula's 

varied topography, now greatly altered, included Fort Hill, a 

great broad hill on the south side which wasleveledin the 1870s, 

and Copp's Hill (Windmill, or Snow Hill) on the north side of 

about the same size. On the northwest, a high ridge, the Tri- 

mountain, extended through the center of the peninsula with 

three peaks -- Mt. Vernon, Beacon, and Pemberton. Of these, 

only Beacon survives, though reduced 1807-32 from its original 

138 feet to 80 feet in elevation. 

The town's ready access to the sea and the source of its early 

maritime commerce was provided by numerous coves -- Town (Great), 

North (Mill Pond), West, and South; and the filling in of these 

bodies of water during the 19th century extended Roston's land 

area by nearly 150 percent, so that by 1912 Boston Proper had 

an area of 1,904 acres. 

Although the peninsula had several springs, there were no 

streams of any consequence. However, a small canal (Mill Creek, 

now Blackstone Street) was created in the 1640s to drain the 

Mill Pond. 

11. POLITICAL BOUNDARIES: 

Preformal settlement on Shawmut peninsula by Blackstone (1625) 

as "Trimountain" with establishment of Massachusetts Bay Company 

as Boston in 1630. Original boundary with Cambridge and Charles- 

town remains as Charles River, although channel division 

follows early 20th century relocation of tide dam. Boundary 

between Boston and Roxbury originally followed channel of 

Roxbury Creek as Roxbury Neck through Back Bay with former 

division at Kendall-Hammond Streets. Later annexation of 

Back Bay (1825) created boundary with Brookline at Muddy River, 

redefined around Kenmore Square at St. Marys Street in 1874. 

Boundary between Boston and Dorchester originally followed 

Fort Point Channel until annexation of South Boston (1804) and 

later adjustment with Dorchester annexation (1869). Boston 

incorporated as a city in 1822. 

MHC Reconnaissance Survey Town Report: Boston

HISTORICAL OVERVIEW 

Important historic urban cultural and financial center of 

world significance at focus of Boston metropolitan region. 

Located at head of Charles and Mystic Rivers originally as the 

Shawmut (Mishawurnut) peninsula within Massachusetts Bay as 

important native tidal fishing area of the Boston Basin. Pre- 

historic fish wiers documented across Back Bay for Archaic 

period with suspected Contact sites within former Mill Pond 

area of Causeway Street, around extensive wharfage fill of Dock 

Square, Atlantic Avenue, original shoreline of South End 

along Washington Street. Early English settlement before 1630 

on Beacon Hill with formal town plan along State Street and 

extensive filling of waterfront around Dock Square by mid-17th 

century, including original First Period burying grounds on 

Tremont Street and Copps Hill with elaborate period stones, 

and surviving open space of Boston Common with later Victorian 

landscaping. Axis of Colonial development along Washington 

Street with affluent residential neighborhood around Summer 

Street and artisan district along Hanover Street in North End, 

including intact organic street plan of First Period origin. 

Earliest surviving buildings from Late First Period associated 

with Revolution, including several early brick Georgian examples, 

around State Street focus and authentic wood frame house at 

North Square with potential 18th century remnants in North End 

area. Rapid increase of urban density during Federal Period 

with shift of status district from Old South End to Beacon Hill 

around State House including early 19th century town house 

district at Louisburg Square and fringe survivals at Bowdoin 

Square and Chinatown and Beacon Hill backslope. Important 

development of civic architecture during Early Industrial 

period with innovative use of local granite, including nationally 

significant examples around original waterfront at Quincy Mar- 

ket, Atlantic Avenue wharves and Charles Street with jail and 

hospital. Few period commercial structures remain in central 

district with exception of Bromfield-Milk Streets and New 

York brownstone example near State Street and Dock Square 

area, which survived 1872 business district fire. Much of 

peripheral residential areas rebuilt during mid-19th century 

as brick rows with scattered remnants in modest Greek Revival 

style throughout North End, former West End, Chinatown and 

Bay Village. Extensive expansion of residential development 

along Washington Street neck in South End during Early Victorian 

period with nearly complete survival of urban fabric along 

Shawmut-Tremont axis, especially around London style resi- 

dential squares at Massachusetts Avenue and Union Park in 

local Boston bowfront plan. Primary residential development 

shifted to Back Bay during late Industrial Period with 

systematic filling of fringe tide marsh along Beacon-Hemenway 

Streets. Extraordinary preservation of original district 

along axis of Commonwealth Avenue in Parisian boulevard 

manner with authentically maintained Victorian Public Garden 

complete with period paddle boats and bridge. Town houses 


of Back Bay display remarkable level of craftwork and wide 

range of Late Picturesque and Early Revival designs by 

nationally noted architects, including focus of civic land- 

mark buildings around Copley Square. Central district 

activity develops along early subway lines with original 

stations along Tremont Street and Washington Street elevated 

to South End. Retail, theatre, wholesale and financial dis- 

tricts remain nearly intact from early 20th century with well 

detailed brick and stone elevator plan buildings, many with 

original features including period signs and lobhies extending 

from State Street to South Station area. North End, West 

End and Beacon Hill backslope rebuilt during Late Industrial 

period with multistoried brick tenements, many with original 

stained glass and immigrant builder's names. Similar resi- 

dential adjustment around South End fringe with examples 

of London and Philadelphia style philanthropic housing along 

Harrison Avenue. Waterfront periphery developed with massive 

brick warehouses and power stations along Atlantic Avenue 

extending to Fort Point Channel in South End with original 

brick loft buildings. Gradual economic stagnation during 

mid-20th century with little change in urban density. Primary 

residential and institutional expansion continues around 

Fenway area from Back Bay with location of art museums, con- 

cert halls and hospitals along Huntington Avenue in formal 

Classic Revival style. Commercial and apartment hotel dis- 

trict developed around Kenmore Square including original 

baseball park and early Chicago-style department store on 

Boylston Street. Recreational axis extended from Fenway along 

Charles River embankment with unique Moder%mus ic stand and 

Classic Revival municipal structures. Business district ex- 

pansion limited to large civic and cooperate buildings during 

Early Modern period with several well-preserved examples 

around Post Office Square of notable Art Deco design, and some 

commercial blocks in Back Bay and Bay Village. At present 

revitalization of central waterfront area has restored all 

early historic structures around State Street-Dock Square, 

but is threatening development of surviving commercial office 

blocks of post-fire period along Broad Street and remaining 

residential fabric of North End and West End, especially 

around North Station. Urban renewal has cleared nearly all 

of original West End and Scollay Square and Pemberton 

Square area as Government Center. Historic districts 

on Beacon Hill and Bay Back appear to have stabilized 

architectural fabric, but pressure is evident along Massachu- 

setts Avenue to South End around Prudential Center and in 

vicinity of Park Square and Bay Village from Tufts University 

and Federal complex expansion. 


IV. CONTACT PERIOD 

A. Transportation Routes: 

Isolated Shawrnut peninsula with connecting trail reported 

on Washington Street over tidal neck from mainland branching 

around Beacon Hill with conjectured routes to North End as sur- 

viving fragments of Marshall-Snow Hill Streets across Dock Square 

neck and possibly as portions of North Street along tidal shore. 

Routes to West End appear as portions of former Sudbury and Green 

Streets from Bowdoin Square-Court Street with reported connecting 

trail over tidemarsh as Causeway Street to North End (Shurtleff, 

1870, p. 109). Route to Fort Hill apparently survives as 

Summer-High Streets around original tidemarsh. It is also con- 

jectured that a trail to the Beacon Hill spring (Frog Pond area) 

followed across Boston Common from Washington Street axis. 

B. Settlement Patterns: 

No documented period sites; however, possible period site 

in vicinity of Washington Street between Haymarket and Dock 

Square. Several shellmiddens reported which may have period 

componentsaor'theast of Frog Pondon Common, along Summer Street and 

adjacent to Old South Meeting House on Milk Street. Other sites 

probably around edge of old Mill Pond, on lee side of Trimountain 

Hills towards Back Bay and along edge of Fort Point Channel. 

C. Subsistence Pattern: 

A major access point to the estuary resources of the Charles 

River and harbor, especially shellfish, fish and waterfowl. Also 

a likely location for period native-European trading. 

D. Observations: 

An area of dense and probably seasonal native occupation 

focused on food gathering and trade with Europeans. Period in- 

habitants were probably primarily Massachusett related people, 

but due to centrality of location (as with Charlestown and the 

Harbor Islands) were probably used by other native groups as 

well. While intense urban development has probably destroyed 

many of the period sites, the massive filling along the original 

shoreline may have preserved some period remnants, 

V. FIRST SETTLEMENT PERIOD 


Native trails improved as local highways with primary route 

across Boston neck to Roxbury as Washington Street from Dock 

Square. Town streets inserted within existing trails during 

1630s include State Street as civic center,Hanover Street across 

canalized Mill Creek (Blackstone Street), School-Beacon Streets 

from town spring (Springlane),Cambridge Street around backslope 

of Beacon Hill and Boylston Street to Back Bay along Common edge. 


In addition, a complex of streets developed around Dock 

Square fi urv vin in the Black.stone B10.c 

area. Vtve? s%ree%s 0% the perrod rnclude ~rl!, Essex, 

Cross and West Streets from Washington Street axis. Ferries 

to Charlestown and Winnisimet (Chelsea) established by 1631 

from foot of Copps Hill. 

B. Population: 

Earliest settler, Rev. William Blackstone (Blaxton), 1625, 

at Barton's Point, who built there a house and orchard (now 

vicinity of Spruce and Beacon Streets). Arrival of Massachusetts 

Bay Company in 1630 established town of Boston with perhaps 1500 

people. Four years later freemen said to number 350. Population 

of 4,000 speculated by 1760, perhaps including 1,000 families 

and a similar number of houses. 

Settlement Patterns: 

Preformal English occupation of Shawmut peninsula with William 

Blackstone house site on south slope of Beacon Hill (apparently 

Beacon and Spruce Streets) by 1625. Formal town settlement 

in 1630 with Massachusetts Bay Company along Washington Street 

axis around harbor cove with civic focus at State street, wharf 

area at Dock Square and original fringe cemetery location intact 

at School-Beacon Streets (Kingschapel burying ground). Hill 

sites early occupied with protective and economic activities in- 

cluding fortifications on Fort Hill (1632), windmill on Copps 

Hill (1632) and beaconlight on Beacon Hill (1634). Tidemill 

apparently established by 1636 at Town cove with canal to Mill 

Cove (Haymarket Square) by 1643. Early field divisions of 

1630s include Mylne Field (North End) along Hanover Street, Fort 

Field (Old South End) along Summer Street and New Field (West 

End) along Cambridge Street with long lot pattern preserved in 

street network on Beacon Hill backslope. Boston Common established 

from Blackstone lands between Beacon Hill and Washington Street 

as public pasture area by 1634. Secondary growth of mid-17th 

century expanded settlement to North End with meeting house at 

North Square (1650) and burying ground at Copps Hill (1660) with 

suburban estates in Old South End along Summer Street 

with Granary Burying Ground (1660) at edge of 

Common. Fringe activities located along Washington Street neck 

(Dover Street) with town gates and gallows. 

D. Economic Base: 

From the very start, by virtue of Governor's residence, monthly 

courts and superior harbor, Boston became center of economic life 

to Colony and region -- "the chief place for shipping and 

merchandize," William Wood noted in 1634. 

Most significant economic event of period, the cessation of 

emigration from England in 1641 as a result of Civil War there. 

Commerce from agriculture ceased as flow of immigrants ceased; 

corn would buy nothing, and foreign commodities were scarce. 


Boston's -- and the Cornonwealth's -- maritime commerce dates 

from this event. Trade begun with West Indies as a result 

with imports of sugar and molasses in exchange for lumber, 

produce, and European goods. Distilleries initiated in this 

period, as well as shipbuilding and allied industries. First 

ropewalk begun 1641 by John Harrison. By the 1680s, of the 

131 ships which cleared Boston in a six-month period, 84 were 

bound for West Indian ports, 11 for Spanish ports, and 7 for 

England. 

In 1643 North Cove granted for a corn mill with cove 

conversion of cove to Mill Pond. Dam constructed in vicinity 

of present Causeway Street, with outlet from pond (Mill Creek, 

now Blackstone Street) spanned by drawbridges at North and 

Hanover Streets. Tide operated grist and sawmills and later, 

chocolate mill. First windmill in colony moved from Cambridge 

to Copp's Hill about this time. 

VI. COLONIAL PERIOD 


Street network of mid-17th century expanded along axis 

of Washington-Hanover-Cambridge Streets. Improvements by 

early 18th century include Salem Street to North End, Tremont 

Street along Common and Pearl Street to Fort Hill. Long 

Wharf extended from State Street (1710) to remains of Barricado 

constructed during late 17th cmtury (Now Atlantic Avenue). 

B . Population : 

During this period, Boston's population peaked in 1743 

at 16,382 -- making it at that time the most populated city 

in the English colonies. Thereafter, population dropped. 

By 1760, with population of 15,631, Boston ranked third, be- 

hind New York and Philadelphia. Morison attributes loss 

to frequent epidemics, high taxes, and high cost of fuel 

(p. 22). Another consideration appears to be loss of jobs, 

shipbuilding, and trade due to Molasses Act (1733) and run- 

away inflation (1740s). By 1765 Boston had a total population 

of 15,520 including 811 blacks, and 37 natives. There were 

1,676 houses and 2,069 families. 

C. Settlement Patterns: 

Continued expansion around original town center with 

civic focus at State Street and commercial core around 

Dock Square. North End developed as dense urban district 

along Hanover-North-Salem Streets by early 18th century with 

affluent suburban district in Old South End along Summer- 

Washington Streets. Fashionable promenade established along 

Common Mall at Tremont Street (1730) with fringe activities 

on Beacon Hill backslope (Mount Whoredom) and West End by 

mid-18th century. Wharf areas extended around waterfront 

from North End to Fort Hill with major shipyards along 


Battery March and North Street. Series of urban fires (1676, 

1679, 1683, 1690, 1691, 1702, 1711, 1759 and 1760) destroyed 

much of central district and North End, although specific 

areas are not documented. 


By the early 18th century, Boston had become "the princi- 

pal mart of trade in North America." The 1710s saw completion 

of both Long Wharf, extending State Street 2,000 feet into 

deep water, and Boston Light. Peace of Utrecht (1713) 

and the admission of Boston ships to French West Indies (1717) 

led to greatly increased trade. Rum became principal manu- 

facture of province and a large number of distilleries were 

in operation in Boston. Many were located on wharves south of 

Essex Street. Some merchants unloaded molasses directly 

at their distilleries, manufactured rum, and re-exported the 

product without it ever leaving the waterfront. 

Shipbuilding to supply this expanding trade was carried 

on at numerous dockyards -- said to number 27 at one point, 

with other related industries. Barton's Point in 1722 had 

Lee's shipyard, a copper works, three ropewalks, and a wind- 

mill. By 1730, said to be 14 extensive ropewalks in operation. 

Stimulated by Scotch-Irish linen weaving in Londonderry, 

NH, similar attempts at linen manufacture attempted in Boston 

with short-lived linen "craze" in 1730s and construction of 

brick building for weavers on Long Acre Street. As early as 

1670s appears to have been a chocolate mill (cocoa from West 

Indies) at north mill site on Mill Pond; if waterpowered, 

may significantly predate Milton chocolate activities nearly 

a century later. 

The "South End" during this period, west of Congress 

Street, was an area of fields, gardens, and large houses, 

while the area north and west of Tremont Street, including 

the Common was largely open pasture. 

About the middle of the century, some event -- whether 

the "frequent epidemics, high taxes, and high cost of fuel" 

of Morison, or, which seems more likely, gross inflation 

spurred by increasing amounts of paper currency -- caused a 

fall-off in trade. Product of distilleries had already 

peaked in the 1730s after passage of Molasses Act of 1733. 

Eight distilleries shown on 1830s map. By 1740s Boston ship- 

building in decline and workmen left for country towns. 

Parliamentary recompense, L 183,649, in 1751 used to redeem 

inflated paper, an act which,although it cured inflation, 

left Colonial economy "exhausted" (Weeden, 678). 


With the passage of successive revenue taxes in 1760s 

and 70s together with tightening of customs controls on 

smuggling, foreign trade, both legal and illegal, further 

limited. Colonial Period brought to an end by the political 

and military expression of mercantile revolt to these measures. 

Virtually all trade and commerce halted with closure of port 

of Boston 1775-76. 

E. Architecture: 

Residential: Paradoxically, of the half dozen or so 

surviving Colonial residences in Boston, most are late First 

Period structures dating from just after the 1711 Fire; these 

include several brick houses important for their surviving 

Georgian detailing. Only a very few late 17th century 

buildin~ssurvive with only one framed house extant (Paul 

Revere, c. 1680). Buildings no longer standing: Many early 

houses survived to be recordedin the 19th century, but the 

earliest of these date only to the 1680s. A few imposing 

mansions of the late 1670s and 1680s established Rennaissance- 

derived architecture in medieval Boston. Other well-detailed 

Georgian houses of the 18th century reflected provincial 

English architecture and formed the highstyle regional prece- 

dent. 

Institutional: 

A handful of Georgian brick institutional buildings, 

primarily significant for their historical association with 

the Revolutionary War, survive in the Central Business 

District and North End. Of these, the most important, 

architecturally, are Christ Church (William Price, 1723), 

which introduced the axial cruciform Anglican church plan 

in New England, and the Old State House (1712), in the stepped 

gable facade of which can be noted the strong Dutch influence 

on contemporary English popular architecture. The most signi- 

ficant highstyle Georgian building is King's Chapel (Peter 

Harrison, 1749) while the Old South Meeting housedtypical 

of several meeting houses built, is the only modest example 

to survive. I 

Commercial: 

The only commercial building to survive from the colonial 

Period (and only portions of this are original to the period) 

is Fanueil Hall (John Smibert, 1740-42), combining market 

space in the (originally open) arcaded first floor with offices 

and meeting space on the floors above. In plan and function, 

Fanueil Hall derives from the medieval town market; as built, 

it was in style as carefully classical as 18th century Boston 


could muster. The only other commercialbuilding recorded is the 

brick Triangular warehouse of c. 1680; other commercial build- 

ings are presumed to have been small scale and semi-domestic 

in character. 

VII. FEDERAL PERIOD 


Rapid improvement of connections from Boston peninsula during 

late 18th century across the surrounding tidal rivers with 

causeway bridges to Charlestown (1786) and Cambridgeport (1793) 

and continued expansion through early 19th century with bridges 

to South Boston at Dover Street (1805), East Cambridge at Charles 

River Dam (1809), Brookline across Back Bay mill dam at Hemenway 

- Beacon Street (1821) and additional bridges to Charlestown 

at Warren Avenue (1828) and to South Boston at Dorchester Avenue 

(1828). Land filling created new streets along waterfront as 

Harrison Avenue and Charles Street. Local transit service by 

suburban stage from central Boston hotels across toll bridges 

established during 1790s with hourly omnibus operation by 1820s 

to South Boston, Roxbury, Cambridge and Charlestown. 


In the 35 years between 1775 and 1810, Boston's population 

doubled, growing from 16,000 to 32,896. By 1830, 20 years later, 

this figure had doubled again, reaching 61,392. Although most 

of the growth took place in the last twenty years with an average 

rate of nearly 1400 persons per year, the five years 1820-25 

witnessed an unusual increase to 2520 persons per year. 


Stagnation of population during Revolutionary period with 

British evacuation. Gradual recovery during the late 18th 

century with opening of Charlestown, Cambridge and South Boston 

bridges. Affluent district remains in Old South End around 

Surmner-Federal Streets (Church Green) with development of 

Tontine Crescent (1793) as residential square and secondary 

focus at Bowdoin Square. However, shift in suburban development 

to Beacon Hill by early 19th century with civic relocation of 

State House (1798) and subdivision of Beacon Street lots as 

private estates with final development of Louisburg Square 

(1826) as residential focus. Infilling of waterfront area for 

expansion of wholesale commercial district with Broad-India 

Streets (1803) and Quincy Market (1824) areas. Similar expan- 

sion into tidemarsh with Mill Cove district along Canal-Causeway 

Street (1808) and Fort Point Channel area along Harrison Avenue 

(1805). Fringe activities located around waterfront periphery 

of Back Bay with rope walks along Charles Street, Beacon Street 

mill dam and Mass. General Hospital (1818) North End fully develop~d 

as artisan district with focus along Hanover and Salem Streets. 


Modest residential expansion directed along Washington Street 

neck with subdivision of Warren-Pleasant Streets (Bay Village) 

and creation of Franklin and Blackstone Squares (1801) as 

focus of New South End development. Complex growth of central 

business area with focus of financial district along State 

Street and division of retail district between professional 

services along Tremont Row (Government Center) to Bowdoin 

Square and fashionable shopping district expanding along 

upper Washington Street into affluent area of Old South End 

with early hotels on Congress and Tremont Streets. 


With the release of Boston and departure of British troops 

in 1776, the town quickly regained much of its mercantile 

economy. A year later economic strength was said to be "greater 

than when the war began" (Weeden, p. 779). West Indian trade 

was resumed (albeit with interruptions), and the high cost of 

imported goods encouraged privateering. With the establishment 

of peace in 1783 British goods flooded the market, and in an 

unparalleled display of "vulgax"wealth, port towns purchased 

all that could be had, sending large quantities of specie 

abroad. By 1785 credit was exhausted, depression set in, and 

virtually any manufacturing which had been going on was at 

a standstill. To lend stability to credit, the Massachusetts 

Bank, led by William Phillips, was chartered in 1783, but the 

stock, capitalized at $100,000 was undersubscribed, a further 

indication of scarce capital. 

As early as 1780 the Commonwealth had determined to actively 

support manufactures, commerce, and agriculture , and much of 

the revival in manufactures during the late 1780s can be traced 

to government support. One of the earliest factories, the Boston 

Glass House (William Phillips, Robert Hewes & Co.) established 

1787, was granted exclusive right to manufacture glass for 

15 years,though not until 1793 did the company begin producing 

an adequate product. In 1788 the Legislature declared bounties 

on hemp, sail cloth, duck, and twine. In response, large 

factories were begun that year for the manufacture of both 

sail cloth and twine. Although the twine factory closed with 

the expiration of the twine bounty, the production of sail 

cloth "went far beyond any other industrial enterprise at the 

time in organization and excellence of product" (Weeden, 851). 

Partially in response to the hemp bounty, 14 rope walks were in 

operation in 1794 around Fort Hill and the West End. (A major 

event in 1794 was the burning of 7 rope walks near Fort 

Hill. Considered a nuisance in the heart of town, five were 

relocated by a grant of land at the foot of the Common -- now 

the Public Garden). 

But other factories were begun in this period, apparently 

without government support. One of the most impressive (like 

the sail cloth factory, attracting a visit by G. Washington) 

was a card factory operated by Giles Richard, who, picking up 


a business begun before the war, with Oliver Evans improvements, 

built one of the most extensive card factories in the state. 

By 1794 there were five other card establishments in Boston. 

(One of Richards' employees was Amos Whittemore, who perfecting 

card-making machinery, later moved out to Arlington). Paper 

hanging, previously imported from Britain and France, were 

produced in sufficent quantity to supply Massachusetts and other 

states. 

Although the sugar plantations of the British West Indies 

remained legally closed until 1828, in effect much of the West 

Indian trade had been restored by 1787. Before the Napoleonic 

wars and a Congressional excise,there were 32 distilleries and 

7 sugar refineries operating in Boston, though by 1794 this 

number had been cut back to 18 operating distilleries and 5 

refineries. As before the war, many of these distilleries 

were located on wharves where molasses was unloaded. 

In the meantime, with commerce with Britain restricted by 

state tariff and the country at the bottom of a depression, 

American tea ships began returning from Canton and the East 

Indies. The success of the new trade in American ships was 

immediate. By 1790 the establishment of the fur trade in the 

Pacific Northwest provided Boston (and Salem) merchants with 

a ready item of exchange in Canton. Shipbuilding, already 

benefiting from the demand for East Indiamen, was further 

stimulated by tonnage duties imposed by the first U.S. tariff 

(1789) on British ships. By 1794, thou$h Boston now had no 

more than 4-5 dockyards, mostly for repairs (including Hart's 

in the North End, which built both the Constitution and the Boston 

in the '90s), there were 80 wharves, mostly on the east s ideof 

town. 

As printed imported cottons were taxed under the new 

excise, a new business in calico printing developed. Beaver 

hats made in Boston were preferred to those of England. Hard 

and soft soap, tallow candles (by a new process), and 

spermaceti candles (4 factories) were manufactured. Chocolate 

had been made in Boston for many years, but Mr. Welch's new 

inventions greatly expedited the process at his North End mill. 

The Charles River Bridge, built to Charlestown, Boston's 

closest industrial neighbor 1785-86, was said at the time to be 

"the greatest (work) that had ever been projected in America." 

Built 42 feet .ciide on 72 oakpiers by Sewall and Cox, the structure 

was 1,503 feet in length. Seven years later it was surpassed 

by the West Boston Bridge, over twice the length, connecting 

the hitherto undeveloped West End with the marshlands of East 

Cambridge. Another civic work, begun in 1795, introduced 

limited amounts of Jamaica Pond water 4 miles into Boston via 

a wood-log aqueduct over Roxbury Neck. 


By the late 1790s, Boston's economic expansion was making 

itself felt apparent physically. The purchase by the Mount 

Vernon Proprietors of the pasture land west of the State House 

site was the largest land transaction yet in Boston. In 1799 

Mount Vernon, westernmost peak of the Trimountain, was shorn 

of 60 feet to make building lots. With the establishment of 

the Mill Pond Corporation five years later, other developers 

began to fill in the former North Cove with the crest of 

Beacon Hill. At the same time other developers began to look 

increasingly toward new territory for Boston's expansion. 

Dorchester Neck was an early candidate whose annexation in 

1805 was tied to the construction of the South Boston Bridge 

in the same year. 

Jefferson's Embargo in 1807-09 was felt most heavily by the 

mercantile community. But to some extent this must have been 

offset by new internal routes which had developed -- new 

turnpikes and the new 27-mile Middlesex Canal (1804). 

Despite hindrances to foreign trade during the War of 1812, 

the period 1810-15 was one of great comnercial prosperity 

Money less available for foreign ventures turned to infant 

industries. Carriages, imported from abroad until after the 

Revolution, were first manufactured in Boston beginning about 

1813. Uriah Cotting, whose Broad Street Association (1805) 

had already begun extensive waterfront development, began Boston's 

most ambitious manufacturing project in 1814 with the establish- 

ment of the Boston & Roxbury Mill Dam Corporation -- a company 

which planned a huge manufacturing complex based on large 

tidal dams in the Back Bay. 

With rising exports of beef to the West Indies and other 

ports both before and after the Revolution, Roxbury developed 

slaughterhouses and tanneries which by the early Federal Period 

were supplying increasing numbers of Boston boot and shoemakers. 

By 1810 the annual product of this trade was worth $131,225 -- 

fourth (after rum, rope and metals) in the list of leading 

Boston industries. Fifth largest industry was cabinet making, 

and the logical outgrowth of this was the manufacturing of 

pianos (begun by 1806), perhaps the single most important 

industry to develop in this period. Rabcock, Bent, and Osborne 

were active in the first two decades of the century, primarily 

on what is now Washington Street between Essex and Bedford 

Streets. Babcock's 1825 patent on a cast-iron frame for 

square pianos was a crucial advance, and subsequent decades 

saw rapid development in the industry. Jonas Chickering arrived 

in 1817 to work with Osborne but his important patents =re tnt until 

the '30s and '40s. 

After 1815, by contrast with the period preceeding, the 

resurgence of cheap foreign goods crippled home industry, but 

foreign trade experienced a new surge of life. One of the most 

visible aspects was the construction of Central Wharf, another 

project of Cotting's Broad Street Corporation. The construction 


in 1817 of the longest block of warehouses in the country, hous- 

ing many prominent merchants, was said to be "an undertaking 

unparalleled in commercial history," (quoted in Whitehill, 86). 

Although Cotting's grand scheme for a manufacturing complex 

in the Back Bay did not materialize, the completion of the mill 

dam in 1821 under Laommi Baldwin did lead to the development here 

in the '20s of much of Boston's "heavy" industry -- paralleling 

a similar development in adjacent Roxbury. Inaddition to City 

Mills (flour) and several rope walks, the Boston Iron Company 

located here on Gravelley Point about 1821, while Holmes Hinckley 

began constructing stationary steam engines about 1826 on Camden 

Street, an operation that would lead in later decades to the 

Boston Locomotive Works. 

During the 1820s, the Boston waterfront, already the scene 

of numerous provision merchants, meat packers, sail makers and 

ship chandlers, was also developing as the location of numerous 

boot and shoe, hide and leather merchants connected with the 

growingsoutherntrade in shoes. At the same time, the immediate 

success of Quincy Market (1825-26) led to wide speculation in 

the adjacent new lands created by filling. Sailors' outfitting 

establishments (predecessors to the ready-made clothing trade) 

located in North End. Boston Gas Light, after initial trials 

with oil gas 1822-23, built first substantial coal-gas plant by 

1828 near coal wharves on Hull Street. Nine years later the 

company had two gasometers on that property and one on Washington 

Street. 


Residential: Highstyle Federal brick townhouses, two and 

three stories tall with elliptical porticos, pilasters and balu- 

strades, the most ambitious of them freestanding and Bulfinch- 

designed, were built along the crest of Beacon Hill and on 

Cambridge Street. Other imposing brick rowhouses were constructed 

around the Common. Substantial but less pretentious middle-class 

housing, three story, brick sidehall Federal rowhouses with side 

and fanlit entrances, filled in the lower slopes of Beacon Hill 

and the South End along Washington Street while modest sidehall 

brick rowhouses, three stories tall, were built in the working 

class neighborhoods of the North End, the north slope of Beacon 

Hill and the West End. Much of the most impressive architecture 

of the Federal Period emerged as a result of the first wave of 

real estate speculation (Mount Vernon Proprietors, Tontine 

Crescent) and through the efforts of Bulfinch; but, in general, 

residential architecture of the period was structurally and 

stylistically conservative. 


The number and type of institutional buildings constructed 

during the period increased sharply with Boston's burgeoning 

urbanity (e.g., Massachusetts General Hospital, Suffolk County 

Courthouse, Holy Cross Cathedral). The impact of a growing group 


of "architects" and architectlengineers began to be evident in 

a rise in the stylistic pretention of anumber of the larger 

institutional projects and in advances in structural and design 

expertise. A dramatic shift occurs from the predominant red 

brick of the Federal to the Quincy granite of the Greek Revival, 

well established by the 1820s. The pace of institutional con- 

struction seems to have peaked in the early 19th century with a 

second burst in the 1820s. Among the most significant buildings 

constructed are the State House, Suffolk County Courthouse, 

Massachusetts General Hospital, Holy Cross Cathedral (all Charles 

Bulfinch; 1795, 1808, 1818, 1800), Old West Church and Charles 

Street Meetinghouse (Asher Benjamin; 1806, 1807), Park Street 

Church (Peter Banner, 1809), St. Paul's (Alexander Parris, 1820). 

Commercial: Several outstanding commercial buildings were 

built in the period, the most important being the Exchange Coffee 

House (1808), a remarkably sophisticated Federal style building 

rising an equally remarkable seven stories, and the granite Greek 

Revival Quincy Market (Alexander Parris, 1824-6), prototypical 

instance of municipal urban development exploiting a significant 

new building material. As in institutional architecture of the 

period building type specialization increases with one major new 

American type (Tremont House, Isaiah Rogers, 1828) to Boston's 

credit. Trabeated granite construction is, however, the most 

distinctive and significant technological advance of the period: 

Boston's architectlengineers created an important regional 

architectural form through post and lintel construction, one 

which was widely exploited in the Early Industrial Period. 

Industrial : 

The most significant industrial construction occurred on 

the waterfront with several monumental Federal wharf complexes'r.~~ilt, 

including India Wharf (Charles Bulfinch, 1805). 

VIII EARLY INDUSTRIAL 

A. Transportation Routes : 

Continued improvement of regional connections with railroad 

routes across tide flats to Boston peninsula during mid-19th 

century, including Boston & Providence and Boston & Worcester 

over Back Bay (1835) with depots at Park Square and Kneeland 

Street and Boston & Lowell, Boston & Maine and Fitchburg over 

Charles River (1835-45) with depots at Haymarket Square and 

Causeway Street. Railroads from South Boston over Fort Point 

Channel to Kneeland Street depots include Old Colony (1845) 

and New York Central (1855). Local transit service converted 

from horse omnibus to street railway during 1850s with early 

routes from suburban towns along Washington and Tremont Streets 

to Roxbury, Cambridge Street to Cambridge, Dorchester Avenue 

to South Boston and Dorchester and Northstreet to Charlestown 

across Warren Avenue and Washington Street bridges. Internal 


horse railroads operated from Tremont Row business district 

(Government Center) on Hanover and North Streets to North End, 

Boylston Street to Park Square depot and Broad Street to Knee- 

land Street depots with complex of lines around Causeway Street 

depots from East Cambridge. In addition early steam ferry 

service established to Chelsea and East Boston during 1830s 

from Boston waterfront. Street improvements of the period 

extended routes across Back Bay with axis along Commonwealth 

Avenue and Boylston Street (1857) and Harrison and Shawmut Avenues 

in South End. Atlantic Avenue opened over Barricado sea wall 

between North End and Fort Hill (1870). 


Period witnessed rise and decline of the city's first and 

largest immigration wave and saw Boston's greatest era of growth -- 

rising from just over 60,000 in 1830 to 141,083 in 1865. Al- 

though the growth rate never went below 1400 people a year in 

that time, the years between 1835 and 1855 were the peak years, 

when the rate did not fall below 2600 per year. In the five years, 

1845-50, Boston Proper had an average annual rate of growth of 

2,940 persons -- largely refugees from the Irish potato famine 

of 1846. By 1850, over half the population of the city was 

foreign born. Forty percent of the population were of Irish 

descent. The Irish concentrated in the North End and area of 

Fort Hill, with some expansion into the West End. By 1860 

there was already a small Italian settlement in the North End, 

chiefly of Genoese. By 1865, 70 percent of the foreign-born 

residents were Irish, 12 percent Canadian, 5-6 percent from 

each of England and Germany. In the last five years of the 

period, 1865-70, as the older population shifted to surrounding 

communities, Boston lost over 2300 persons. 


Rapid increase of urban density with continued expansion 

of central area during mid-19th century. Opening of railroad 

depots around waterfront fringe creates new focus of activity 

at Haymarket Square, Kneeland Street and Park Square with 

related hotel districts. Civic focus develops along Beacon- 

School Street axis from City Hall to State House, while financial 

district remained on State Street. Fashionable retail area 

expanded from Tremont Row (Government Center) along Washington 

Street with parallel development on Tremont Streetto Boylston 

Street with civic structures such as Public Library (1858), 

while status neighborhood around Church Green (Old South End) 

eventually abandoned to commercial and wholesale development. 

Affluent residential growth continued on Beacon Hill 

along Mt. Vernon and Chestnut Streets with row house develop- 

ment 1840s. In similar manner New South End developed around 

residential squares along Shawmut-Washington Streets at Frank- 

lin, Union and Chester Parks by 1850s. Development of Back 

Bay as status residential district reorients primary direction 

of growth from Washington Street to Boylston Street around 

Public Garden (1860). Gradual filling of tide flats proceeds 

along axis of Commonwealth Avenue with original fringe activities 


surviving around the tide mill at Graveny Point (Hemenway Street). 

Remaining residential areas are transformed as immigrant tenement 

districts during 1850s with conversion of housing stock in North 

End, West End and Fort Hill to high density multiple family 

use. Fringe districts expanded around waterfront periphery with 

City Jail at Charles Street (1850) and City Hospital at Albany 

Street (1864), while railroads serve as barriers between South 

End, Back Bay and central district. 

Economic Base : 

Perhaps in no other period did Boston witness such major 

changes in commerce, industry, and social makeup. The period 

saw the pre-eminence of the city as the nation's chief port 

of trade in the 1840s and early '50s at the same time as New 

York was siphoning off growing amounts of both domestic and 

foreign commerce. The shift of capital from shipping to manu- 

facturing and the associated rapid growth of the factory system 

was accompanied by major alterations both in distribution systems 

(Boston's first three railroads all opened in the summer of 1835) 

and in the very means by which business was conducted. The new 

immigrant population provided a huge supply of cheap labor. At 

the same time, the swelling population kept many of the 

new heavy industries out of Boston Proper, concentrating them 

instead in Roxbury, South Boston, Cambridge, and Charlestown. 

Two of the most significant industries of the period -- the 

manufacture of ready-made clothing and of pianos -- owe their 

prominence to advances made in this period, though the manu- 

facture of confectionary and furniture were also significant. 

The single largest manufacturing industry throughout the 

period and much of the succeeding period was the production 

of ready-made clothing, which grew out of the old sailors' 

outfitting establishments in the North End. The business was 

practically begun by John Simmons 1830-35, who successfully 

established the reputation for quality in a product hitherto 

consigned to sailors and backwoodsmen. The trade was rapidly 

taken up by others, By 1837 there were 97 establishments employ- 

ing nearly 3,000 people. After the introduction of the sewing 

machine, the business employed 20,634 people in 1865, with an 

annual product worth over $15 million. 

The development of Boston as a wool center dates to this 

decade, with the gradual replacement of auction markets by 

wool brokers. Although the first wool warehouse was constructed 

in 1821, much of the transition between the commission business 

and auction methods took place in the 1830s with the establish- 

ment of offices by the earliest wool dealers. By 1851 there 

were 21 firms; by 1881, 48 firms; and by the 11890s,Boston had 

become, as it was to remain, the nation's leading wool market 

with major warehouse complexes in Boston Proper and South Boston. 


The 1830s also saw the divorce of wholesale and retail 

operations in the large and growing dry goods trade. Wholesale 

commission houses constructed extensive granite warehouses in 

the '30s and '40s in what became the Dry Goods Quarter between 

Pearl and Summer Streets. The retail dry goods trade remained on 

Hanover Street near the center of population for several years, 

and not until the end of the period did the shift to Washington 

Street take place. 

During the '30s and '40s trade with the West Indies was at 

its height, with Boston the nation's leading importer of sugar, 

molasses and coffee. The engine which generated this trade was 

the lumber product of New England, upon which the West Indies 

depended, much of which was brought down from Maine and New 

Hampshire via the Middlesex Canal and coastwise shipping. Although 

Boston ships and capital remained dominant, Boston's tea trade 

gradually shifted to New York in the 1830s, preceeding the shift 

there of the dry goods houses twenty years later. Despite this 

loss, however, Boston retained more than half of all U.S. trade 

with the East Indies and 314 of all trade with Russia. 

Boston at this time was also the headquarters of the meat 

packing industry, supplying large quantities of beef and pork to 

southern and mid-Atlantic states. In the late '30s Boston firms 

began sending agents to the midwest to purchase and pack beef 

from Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, thus initiating the shift of 

the industry to that region in the succeeding period. 

At least as early as the 1790s, there had been an active 

trade in boots and shoes to southern ports. During the 1820s and 

'30s the boot and shoe industry began to take shape in Boston as 

increasing numbers of shoe shops from outside began to send their 

products to agents in the city. As in the wool trade, a major 

change in market practice came about in 1830 as wholesale dealers 

(jobbers) were replaced by agents of the manufacturers themselves. 

Boston became at once the great emporium of the trade. Hard upon 

its heels came the great hide importing houses bringing in large 

quantities of hides from South America and California. Initially 

the shoe houses occupied stores between Quincy Market and 

Blackstone Street, though after 1849 they began moving into Pearl, 

Sumer, and High Streets, eventually crowding out the dry goods 

trade. 

A limited amount of heavy industry near the mill dams with 

a paint and dye factor, and rope and chain plants. In 1834, a 

Mr. Bouton built the first locomotive in New England at the M i l l 

Dam Foundry. The Yankee, built for the Boston & Worcester 

Railroad, was copied from an English locomotive imported by the 

Boston & Lowell Railroad. 


In the same way that lumber and cod gave Boston an advantage 

in West Indian trade beginning in the 1830s, the cotton trade 

gave Boston an advantage in southern markets in the 1840s. 

Southern ports took increasing quantities of pork and beef, boots 

and shoes, furniture and wooden ware, almost all of which came 

through Boston. In addition, bulk products, ice and granite, 

from Charlestown and Boston wharves made saleable ballast for 

southern vessels which might otherwise have chosen other ports. 

This decade saw the climax of both coastwise and foreign commerce. 

By this time over 30 firms were importing molasses, sugar, coffee, 

and dyewoods from the West Indies. Wharf property was the most 

productive real estate in Boston. Massive granite warehouses 

were constructed along the waterfront in this "Golden Age of 

Boston mercantilism." 

In 1837 Jonas Chickering had. patented the single-casting 

iron frame (key to pianos remaining in tune), an invention which 

stimulated the rising popularity of the instrument in the 1830s 

and '40s. Other patents, by Chickering and others, in the late 

'30s and '40s for damping strings, overstringing, and other 

innovations gave tremendous boosts to the pianoforte industry. 

By 1855, then relocating in the "new" South End near the lumber 

wharves, 20 firms produced nearly $1 million annually in pianos. 

In the late 1840s Boston constructed her first major water 

supply system, like New York's a decade earlier -- and from whom 

Boston borrowed her chief engineer -- a gravity system from Lake 

Cochituate in Wayland to a Brookline receiving reservoir to a 

distributing reservoir on Beacon Hill. (Curiously, like New 

York's distributing reservoir, whose.site was built upon by the 

New York Public Library, the Beacon Hill reservoir in the same 

decade became the site of the Massachusetts State Library.) 

Swan song of Boston shipping provided by Clipper ship era, 

only the most visible of the many results of the discovery of 

gold in California. Provisioning of California settlers became 

huge business requiring speed for which clippers uniquely suited 

as cargo vessels. Period coincided with decline of East Indies 

trade as increasing amounts of Boston shipping diverted to New 

York. By early 1850s dry goods houses had followed tea import 

business to New York City. Coastwise shipping also began to drop 

precipitously as goods were increasingly shipped by rail. This 

in turn led to a decline in the value of wharf property, marked 

by the absorption of dock rights and privileges for warehousing 

purposes -- led by the much protested sale of City Wharf by the 

city in 1852. In the face of declining commerce, the Boston 

Board of Trade was formed to formulate commercial policies for 

Boston. 


By 1849 coal, lumber, and stone yards were already established 

along the shore of South Bay, and these continued to follow the 

waterline as it receded. Brick and lumber yards in the region of 

Dover Street, which had furnished employment to large numbers of 

workmen in the sparsely populated district, went out of business 

about that time, replaced by steam woodworking shops with ready 

access to nearby coal and lumber wharves. In the 1850s and '60s 

piano factories were given great impetus by the supply of cheap 

immigrant labor also located in the new-made land of the South End. 

By the 1860s, piano manufacture had become the largest category of 

manufacturing in the South End. Sizeable numbers of German and 

Swedish craftsmen trained new unskilled laborers in woodworking. 

At least as early as 1832 there had been six confectionary makers 

in Boston, but the invention of the lozenge cutter in the 1850s by 

Chase provided an important stimulus, and by 1865 there were 23 

firms producing an annual product worth $465,728. 

Decade brought to an end by the financial Panic of 1857-58. 

Relatively few new industries established in this period, 

though the manufacture of clothing, as before noted, witnessed a 

three-fold increase 1855-65, probably due as much to Civil War 

contracts as to the introduction of the sewing machine. Shipping 

of the Port of Boston was further curtailed with the filling of 

land around the docks and construction of Atlantic Avenue, "then 

and forever (ending) the traditional glory of the old wharves of 

Boston" (Col. Forbes, quoted in Bunting, p. 48). With expansion 

of wholesale warehouses into the Fort Hill district, the hill 

was cut down and many of the Irish immigrants there moved to South 

Boston. 

The post Civil War years 1865-70 did little to improve 

Boston's commercial position. High inflation and the removal of 

Cunard's weekly packet to New York left business community listless. 

E. Architecture : 

Residential: Two important innovations in residential design 

took place in the Early Industrial period. These are the 

introduction of the mansard roof in Boston, generally credited to 

Jean Lemoulnier's design of the Deacon House (1846-48) and the 

introduction of the French flat (single floor occupancy in a 

multi-storfed building) at the Hotel Pelham (1857). Little 

highstyle residential construction took place before the end of 

the period when the eastern portions of the Back Bay began to 

fill in with ambitious three, four and five story brick townhouses 

with brownstone trim in Renaissance derived motifs. The majority 

of the period's residential construction occurredon the fringes 


of Beacon Hill and in the newly-filled South End- while certain ) 

squares in the South End developed with elegant and well-detailed 

three and four story brick bowfront houses, much of the South 

End's housing is somewhat more modest. Conservatively-styled 

Greek Revival houses were being built into the 1850s along with 

more up-to-date Italianate examples. Eclecticism is rare in 

domestic architecture although a few Gothic Revival examples areshown. 

Institutional: Boston in the mid-19th century possessed 

a number of institutional buildings in eclectic styles, few of 

which survive today to indicate that the city did in fact respond 

to contemporary taste and fashions. In ecclesiastical architecture, 

Gothic designs predominated, G. W. Brimmer's stout-towered 

Trinity Church (1828, burned 1872) being the earliest example of 

the heavy granite type popular in Boston; several other examples 

were constructed before 1850 (Bowdoin Street Congregational, 1831, 

Willard; Grace Church, 1836, W., T., and J. Washburn; 1st Masonic 

Temple, c. 1845, Rogers). The Greek Revival continued to be 

employed (Customs House, 1837, A. B. Young) until the 1840s. The 

first highstyle Italianate structure in Boston (Boston Atheneum, 

1849, E. C. Cabot) closely follows the introduction of the style 

to this country (Philadelphia, 1845) while Boston can claim the 

earliest highstyle Second Empire building in the U. S. (City Hall, 

1865, Bryant and Gilman); the Sub-Treasury and Post Office 

(1869, A.B. Mullet) was also a notable example of this style. 

W. G. Preston's Rogers Building (1866, demolished 1939) and Museum 

of Natural History (1863) presage the Beaux Arts classicism of 

the turn of the century while Arthur Gilman's Arlington Street 

Church (1860) can be viewed as either the last of the Georgian 

Gibbs-derived churches or an early Colonial Revival example. 

Commercial: Most of the commercial buildings of the period were 

consumed in the Fire of 1872; however at least a few buildings 

outside the Fire area survive including one four-story brownstonefaced 

Italianate block on Devonshire Street and a few blocks on 

cross streets between Washington and Tremont Streets. Trabeated 

granite construction continued to be exploited for its costly 

and monumental character although substantial brick buildings 

such as the Sears Crescent (1848) were also built along with a number of 

buildings with cast iron facades, only a half dozen of which survive. 

Industrial: Of the two most representative type 

of industrial buildings constructed during the period, railroad 

stations and wharves, no examples of the former and only a few 

of the latter survive. Most of the stations were Italianate 

although the Fitchburg (1848) was a Gothic design based closely 

on that of Grace Church (1836). The great maritime prosperity of 

the period necessitated the construction of many wharves of which 

Lewis (Bond, 1838) and Commercial (I. Rogers, 1834) Wharves are 

the most important survivors; the Mercantile Building (G. J. F. 

Bryant, 1857) and portions of other maritime-related buildings are 

also extant. Perhaps the most significant industrial structure 

of the period was the Beacon Hill Reservoir (1849), a massive 

Romanesque design thougk to have influenced the work of H. H. 

Richardson. 


VI. LATE INDUSTRIAL 


Continued improvements of local routes across Back Bay during 

the late 19th century with Massachusetts Avenue bridge to Cambridge 

(1889) and extension to Dorchester as crosstown link. Horse 

railroad routes likewise extended to Back Bay on Boylston- 

Marlborough Streets and Shawmut Avenue to South End during 1870s. 

Conversion of street railways to electric operation in 1890s with 

early trolley subway around Common (1897) with surviving entrance 

buildings at Tremont and Boylston Streets (NHL) and original 

subway station at Boylston Street. Elevated railroads constructed 

around central Boston on Atlantic Avenue (demolished) and along 

Washington Street to Roxbury with original South End Stations at 

Dover and Northampton Streets (1901). Subways constructed through 

central district (1908) with junction at Washington-Summer 

Streets including original wooden escalators at South Station and 

Summer Streets. Harbor trolley subway from Bowdoin Square to 

East Boston (1904) with original station intact at Court Street. 

Elevated trolley route to East Cambridge with original concrete 

viaduct (1910) across Charles River Dam. Local trolley routes 

of the period through Back Bay during early 20th century include 

lines on Boylston, Charles, Dartmouth and Berkley Streets, with 

boulevard route on Huntington Avenue to Brookline. Connecting 

bridges reconstructed to Cambridge, Charlestown and South Boston 

with original spans at Longfellow Bridge (1898) and drawbridges 

at Congress Street and Broadway over Fort Point Channel. 


Growth 1870-1915 from 138,781 to 196,300 - an increase of 

41 percent in 45 years, an average rate of approximately 1300 new 

arrivals each year. However, actual growth rate fluctuated 

considerably, with periods of marked growth (over 1000 people a 

year, 1875-80, 1885-90, 1895-1910) alternating with periods of 

stagnation or decline (1880-85, '90-95). Boston Proper's most 

spectacular increase came between 1905 and 1910 when the 12 

percent rise amounted to an increase of over 4100 people a year. 

Immigration figures were not available for Boston Proper 

alone, but the period was noted for the growth of the Italian and 

Jewish communities and the shift of the Irish to other parts of 

Boston. In the North End, the Irish population peaked in 1880. 

By that year there were still only 1,277 Italians in all of 

Boston. In the succeeding years, however, famine in southern 

Italy associated with its unification,together with the threat of 

pograms in Poland and Russia brought increasing numbers of southern 

and eastern European immigrants to Boston. By 1895 Italians made 

up 27 percent of the North End population, Irish, 23 percent, and 

eastern European Jews, 21 percent. By 1910 both the Irish and 

Jewish populations had largely moved out of the North End to 

other sections of the city. 


C. Settlement Pattern: 

-22- 

Extensive urban fire (1872) destroyed commercial and wholesale 

district around former status neighborhood of Church Green 

(Summer-Congress Streets). Financial district remained along 

State Street axis with growth to Post Office Square, while retail 

district expands along Washington Street anchored by subway focus 

during early 20th century with adjacent theatre district along 

Tremont to Kneeland Street. Civic center remained along School- 

Beacon Streets axis with expansion into Pemberton Square around 

Tremont Row (Government Center) by late 19th century. Railroad 

terminals continued to remain around Causeway StreetIHaymarket 

Square, Kneeland Street and Park Square depots with related hotels. 

Waterfront declined as primary wharfage district for Boston, 

although important warehouse facilities, power stations and ferry 

slips were maintained along Atlantic Avenue. Rapid immigration 

during late 19th century transforms North End, West End, Beacon 

Hill backslope into high density tenement districts with axis 

along Hanover and Cambridge Streets. A similar effect is evident 

around Fort Hill and Bay Village areas, but expansion of business 

district to commercial use prompted housing conversion of fringe 

South End along Harrison and Columbus Avenue. Construction of 

elevated along Washington Street by early 20th century resulted in 

loss of status residential district around Franklin Square. 

Primary affluent area remained on Beacon Hill, but rapid develop- 

ment of Back Bay during late 19th century prompts relocation of 

high income district along Commonwealth Avenue with fashionable 

shops along Newbury Street. New civic focus developed around 

Copley Square with Public library (1888) and Art Museum (1876) 

during late 19th century with continued expansion of area around 

Fenway district with Symphony Hall (1900) Opera House and Art 

Museum (1909) along Huntington Avenue by early 20th century. 

Commercial expansion of Back Bay extended along Boylston Street 

to Massachusetts Avenue with new focus at Kenmore Square, including 

Fenway baseball stadium (1914). Adjacent area developed as modest 

apartment district around Fenway with parallel expansion of 

hospitals at Longwood Avenue on Brookline-Roxbury border. 

Economic Base: 

With the annexation of new territory by the city, isolation 

of the industry and commerce particular to Boston Proper becomes 

increasingly difficult. By the late 19th century, Boston was the 

financial, industrial, and trade center of New England. The city 

was the center of the national wool market and shoe and leather 

industry, and it was the second largest U. S. port in volume of 

business. The period is generally characterized, however, by the 

shift of both industry and maritime trade to other parts of Boston, 

particularly as new rail connections and filled land made 

Charlestown and East and South Boston attractive ports. Manufactur- 

ing firms also moved out to nearby cities, particularly to Cambridge 

and Somerville (and in one instance as far as Wakefield). 


Despite the deterioration of business conditions during the 

immediate post-war years, by 1870 the city had regained much of 

her former commercial activity. Rail rates suddenly were made 

competitive with water routes terminating in New York; foreign 

commerce blossomed again, and was further facilitated by 

construction in 1872 of the Union Freight Railway, linking the 

tracks of the major railroad terminals with the principal wharves. 

In the fall of 1872 two events combined to seriously undermine 

the city's prosperity. On November 9-10 Boston's Great Fire 

burned out a 65-acre portion of the business district, all the 

more destructive for describing almost exactly the boundaries of 

the territory upon which was concentrated the wholesale trade in 

hides, leather and shoes, in dry goods, in wool, in ready-made 

clothing, in hardware, and in part in eathenware. As a result, 

the value of property destroyed ($75 million) was out of all 

proportion to the axtent of the land burnt over. But Boston had 

become -- as it was to remain -- the principal trading city for 

the mills of New England. "Boston's dry goods district was the 

most active in the northeastern United States, and the wealth and 

stability of these businesses accounts in part for the rapid 

recovery of the city after the fire" (BLC, p. 5). Within a year 

much of the area had been rebuilt. Of longer consequences were 

the results of the Panic of 1872 commencing in September of that 

year. For five years trade and commerce remained depressed. 

By the early 1880s business activity had returned to an 

unparalleled extent with the completion of rail connections, 

grain elevators, the Fitchburg's new truck line through the 

recently-completed Hoosac Tunnel making possible immense increases 

in foreign exports of grain, cattle, provisions, and "domestics." 

Like Elias Howe's sewing machine in an earlier decade, John 

Reece's buttonhole machine provided an added stimulus to the 

clothing industry; Paine's Furniture Co., the largest and most 

prominent of the great furniture companies, erected their 

marnmouth store and factory between Canal and Friend Streets; and 

Chadwick Lead built toward the end of the decade their factory 

in the hardware district that since the Great Fire had located 

in the Fort Hill area. Shoe manufacture, hitherto carried out 

only to a limited extent, grew increasingly in the '70s and '80s. 

By 1891 there were said to be 10 factories producing $3 million 

worth of shoes annually. In the '80s and '90s both the shoe and 

leather trade and the dry goods business began expanding southward 

into new brick warehouses in what is today the leather district 

(between Atlantic Avenue and Lincoln Street) and the Textile 

District (in the area of Essex and Kingston Street). 


With the gradual curtailment of the practice of retailers 

coming to Boston every six months to shop for goods beginning in 

the 1880s, warehouse space became less important. 

1890-1900 

By this decade, the furniture trade of Boston Proper was in 

decline as firms moved to other parts of Boston and surrounding 

cities. Probably the same was true of the big printing houses and 

candy factories. South End piano factories continued to increase; 

both Emerson and Everett built large brick factories in the South 

End. The manufacture of pianos and organs peaked about 1910 

though already firms had begun moving out of Boston Proper. The 

earliest Italian egg macaroni had been introduced in 1881. By 

1890 the Boston Macaroni Company and several others were in 

operation. 

For most of the Late Industrial period, freight rates by rail 

and ship had been adjusted to take into account the location of 

various port cities. After about 1905 these rail differentials 

were removed, presenting a pronounced handicap 60 IBos60ri1s )export 

trade. In 1908 Boston slipped from third to fourth place in 

value of exports. At the same time wholesale houses began to 

retire from business as manufacturers increasingly sold products 

directly to retailers. The result was a slow but steady decrease 

in the amount of warehouse space required in Boston. 

The amount of identifiable manufacturing within Boston seems 

to have been relatively small. A scan of atlases suggests that 

two areas in particular retained some industry. The most heavily 

industrialized area remained the blocks east of Harrison Avenue, 

dominated by Boston Elevated's Central Station (the predecessor 

West End Street Railway had taken over the old Hinkley Locomotive 

Works), surrounded by numerous organ and piano factories, machine 

and woodworking shops. In the North End, the blocks immediately 

south of Causeway Street retained brass and iron works, chair and 

casket factories, while along Commercial Street were located not 

only Boston Gas Light's pioneer manufacturing plant, but numerous 

warehouses and at least one confectionary factory. Several large 

factories also remained near the Boston & Providence's Gravelly 

Point yards in the vicinity of Camden and Northampton Streets. 



Residential : 

Although little new development occurred,established 

neighborhoods filled in or were extensively re-built. The Back 

Bay continued to define Boston's highstyle urban domestic 

architecture with high quality, architect-designed four and five- 

story townhouses in a full range of historical styles. Toward 

the end of the period, residential hotels and apartment blocks 

began to be built around Copley Square, along Massachusetts 

Avenue and at Charlesgate, indicating a shift from single family 

to multiple occupancy in Back Bay buildings. Residential 

construction in the South End was all but complete at the 

beginning of the period, with the exception of stretches of 

Columbus Avenue which were built-up in the early '70s with New 

York style rowhouses. Later in the period, the North and West 

Ends and the north slope of Beacon Hill began to experience a 

wave of reconstruction in four, five and six-story brick tenements 

necessitated by a growing immigrant population and based in part 

on an increasing awareness of the threat of aging housing to 

public health and social well-being. By the beginning of the 

Early Modern period in the North End, for example, only a 

fraction of the early 19th century wooden housing stock remained. 

The great majority of the buildings were utilitarian brick 

structures with inexpensive cast metal or concrete trim in diluted 

Colonial Revival designs. In a number of cases, additional floors 

were constructed atop existing early 19th century brick blocks. 

More significant, historically and architecturally, are a few 

remaining examples of philanthropic housing still standing in the 

South End along upper Harrison Avenue; along with a few two-story 

sidehall brick rowhouses at least one block of multi-story brick 

tenements, remarkable for its similarity to London's Peabody Trust 

housing of the 1880s, was constructed, c. 1885. At the end of 

the period, the areas east and west of the Fenway were built up 

with modestly-detailed four and five story, buff and yellow brick 

blocks of flats in Georgian and Colonial Revival designs, a 

decided contrast to the red brick and brownstone of the 19th 

century. 


Most of Boston's landmarks buildings date from the Late 

Industrial period. These include Trinity Church (H. H. 

Richardson, 1872-77) and the Boston Public Library (McKim, Mead, 

and White, 1888-95)) certainly the two best known and illustrative 

of the shift in the late 19th century from picturesque eclecticism 

to Beaux Arts classicism. In ecclesiastical architecture, Gothic 

and Romanesque designs, consistently well-detailed, architect- 

designed structures,mny in the favored local Roxbury puddingstone, 

predominated. The establishment of the city architect's office in 

18 makes for a high degree of stylistic consistency, if not 


always of design quality, in the municipal buildings of the 

period; many notable Victorian Gothic, Romanesque, Renaissance 

and Beaux Arts schools, fire stations and police stations survive 

along with the Suffolk County Courthouse (G. Clough, 1888). 

Major cultural institutions also constructed important structures 

during the period with a few High Victorian Gothic examples 

(Museum of Fine Arts, Sturgis and Brigham, 1876) and many neo- 

classical buildings (Symphony Hall, McKim Mead and White, 

1892-1900; First Church of Christ,Scientist, Brigham and Beman, 

1904-06; Museum of Fine Arts, Guy Lowell, 1909; State House 

additions, R. C. Sturgis, 1914-17). 

Commercial: 

After the Fire of 1872, the commercial district was quickly 

rebuilt with substantial five and six-story mansard-roofed 

blocks in Second Empire and Neo-Grec designs; many of these still 

stand. The commercial architecture of the 1870s and '80s reveals 

a comparatively bold acceptance of the eclectic styles then 

popular and an incipient willingness to test the current height 

limits of building construction: buildings such as the Equitable 

(A. Gilman, 1873- 75) and the New England Mutual (N. J. Bradlee, 

1873) indicate that Boston was still a center of architectural 

innovation in the 1870s. By the turn of the century, it had 

conceded that status, although tall buildings were constructed 

early on (Arnes Building, Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge, 1887-89), 

the steel frame was not employed until comparatively late (Carter/ 

Winthrop Building, C. H. Backall, 1893). Stylistically as well as 

technologically, Boston had retreated to conservatism (albeit as 

part of a national trend in that direction by 1900 so that 

restrained Beaux Arts and neo-classical structures restricted to no 

more than 125 feet in height) predominated. In addition to 

office buildings, a few important department stores (R. H. White's, 

Peabody and Stearns, 1877 and Jordan Marsh, S. J. F. Thayer, 1880, 

both demolished; also Filene's, Daniel Burnham and Co., 1912; 

R. H. Steams, Parker, Thomas and Rice, 1908), several monumental 

railroad stations (Boston and Lowell, E. A. P. Newcomb, 1871; 

Boston and Providence, Peabody and Sterns, 187 ; South Station, 

Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge, 1898) and a few theatres (Wilbur, 

C. H. Blackall, 1914; Saxon/Majestic, J. G. Howard, 1903) were 

among the many commercial buildings constructed in the period. 

Industrial: 

Most of the period's industrial construction consists of 

large-scale brick warehouses of five to eight stories in height; 

these are concentrated along Harrison Avenue and east of South 

Station. Many are buildings of considerable pretention, 

especially those located adjacent to the central business district, 

but most are utilitarian in design. A number of highstyle, well- 

detailed power stations in neo-classical and Beaux Arts designs were 

also built. 


X. EARLY MODERN 


Continued extension of subway system with trolley tunnels 

through Back Bay to Kenmore Square along Boylston Street (1914- 

1932) and to Fenway along Huntington Avenue (1941). Embankment 

autohighway constructed along Charles River fill during 1930s 

as Storrow Drive (rebuilt 1955) with underpass at Massachusetts 

and Commonwealth Avenues (1937). Vehicular tunnel to East Boston 

(Sumner Tunnel) opened 1935 with original Art Deco entrance por- 

tals at Cross Street. North End rail depots consolidated as 

North Station (1928) from Haymarket Square with similar arrange- 

ment at Back Bay station from Park Square. 

Population : 

Although the city as a whole did not reach its peak population 

until 1935, 1915 saw the highest population in Boston Proper -- 

196,300 -- with extreme crowding conditions experienced in some 

areas. (It was said that in 1920 only Calcutta could boast of 

more people per square mile than the North End). Between 1915 

and 1945 Boston Proper experienced a loss of 34 percent, reaching 

128,389 in the latter year. The only exception to this loss was 

a slight and relatively insignificant gain in the five years 

1930-35. The area's population represented as a proportion of 

the whole city declined steadily from 26 percent in 1915 to 16.7 

percent in 1945. 

No figures were available for the ethnic makeup of Boston 

Proper, though with the cessation of major immigration in the 

'20s, most areas retained the ethnic makeup already established. 

By 1920 the North End was 90 percent Italian, the South Cove 

area had been attracting large numbers of Chinese since the 

1880s, and the Sound End had established a national reputation 

as a lodging house district for a wide variety of ethnic groups 

including Irish, Jewish, Syrian, Greek, Italian, Chinese, Portuguese 

West Indian, and Black communities. 


General stagnation of development during mid-20th century 

with stabilization of business area around grid of transit lines. 

Financial district remained along State-Congress with focus 

at Post Office Square. Retail shopping continued at Washington- 

Summer Streets junction with adjacent extension of theatre 

district along Tremont to Kneeland Streets. Specialty whole- 

sale manufacturing remained along Federal-Congress Streets to 

South Station. Government district developed around State 

House complex on Beacon Hill with expansion around Pemberton Sq. 

Tremont Row (Government Center) declines as retail center, 


transformed as fringe district of Scollay Square, extending to 

Bowdoin Square with development of auto commercial strip along 

Cambridge Street. Reformation of Causeway Street-Haymarket 

Square rail terminal as North Station (1928) with wholesale 

district along Canal Street. North End remained as dense 

residential tenement district with axis along Hanover-Salem 

Streets and fringe activities along Atlantic Avenue. Central 

produce market continued at Haymarket-Quincy Market around 

Dock Square with decline of wharfage facilities and conversion 

to artists lofts. Primary status residential area remained on 

Beacon Hill with extension of affluent row house district into 

Back Bay along Commonwealth Avenue with civic focus around 

Copley Square and commercial axis along Boylston-Newbury Streets 

Charles River embankment developed as recreational park by 

mid-20th century with bohemian-artist district along Charles 

Street and tenement rows remaining in West End. Fenway area 

continued as important institutional focus with axis along 

Huntington Avenue, extending to hospital complex at Longwood 

Avenue and commercial district at Kenmore Square. South End 

remained as declining residential district with fringe develop- 

ment along Harrison Ave-Fort Point Channel. Tenement area ex- 

tends to Broadway and Essex Streets with immigrant district 

at Chinatown, while Bay Village developed as cinema-theatre 

wholesale district with extension to Park Square bus depot and 

hotel focus. 


Although retail district had remained relatively fixed since 

1860s, 1920s witnessed new expansion of retail business at Park 

Square with demolition of Boston & Providence station and replace- 

ment by Paine Furniture followed in the 1920s by the Hotel Statler 

(1927). Construction of Sears Roebuck headquarters on upper 

Brookline Avenue achieved much the same effect in vicinity of 

Fenway Park. No identifiable new industrial activity, and with 

declining popularity of pianos in the face of newer sources 

of entertainment (Victrolas, automobiles, and movie houses, etc.) 

most of the piano factories closed, or, like Hallet & Davis, 

relocated. 


Residential: Almost no residential construction took place 

after 1915. A very few highstyle Georgian and Federal Revival 

townhouses along Bay State Road (the farthest extension of the 

Back Bay) were built in the late'teens and 1920st;elsewhere, 

limited construction of conservatively-styled modest Colonial 

Revival apartment blocks may have occurredin the Fenway area. 


Institutional development was confined primarily to the 

Kenmore Square and Fenway areas and was limited to the construction 

of various educational facilities (Boston University, R.A. Cram, 

1939), and hospitals. 


XI. 

Commercial: 

More commercial buildings than any other building type were 

built in this period; of these, the theatres are probably the 

most important group, architecturally, while the number of hotels 

surviving is the greatest. Several very fineBeauxArts designs 

(KeithISavoy, T. Lamb, 1928; Metropolitan, Blackall, Clapp and 

Whittemore, 1925) and at least one Moderne example (Paramount, A. 

Bowditch, 1932) survive. Most of the hotels are restrained Beaux 

Arts, Moderrnor Colonial Revival buildings concentrated in Kenmore 

Copley and Park Squares. Very few office buildings were con- 

structed but of these, most are well-detailed examples of the 

Modernq,a style rare in Boston; these include the United Shoe 

Machinery building (Parker, Thomas and Rice, 1929) and the 

Boston Post Office (Cram and Ferguson, 1929-31). Terracotta 

was extensively employed, particularly in the retail districts, 

to impart a lavish character to otherwise utilitarian structures. 

SURVEY OBSERVATIONS 

Industrial : 

National Register quality buildings includeChickering Piano 

Factory, Reece Buttonhole Machine Factory, Paine Furniture Co. 

building (Friend Street). In addition, further attention should 

be given to the street railway power generating stations on 

Harrison Avenue and at Lincoln Wharf; to Edison's Atlantic Avenue 

generating station; and to other surviving piano factories 

(Emerson at Harrison Avenue and Waltham Street; Everett at 495 

Albany Street, etc.) . 


XII. SOURCES 

Bacon, Edwin M., The Book of Boston. Fifty Years' Recollections of 

the New Englana Metropolis (Boston, 1916). 

Boston History Co., Professional and Industrial History of Suffolk 

County, Massachusetts (3 vols., Boston, 1894). 

Boston Landmarks Cormnission, Central Business District Preservation 

Study, (Boston, 1980). 

Boston Tercentenary Committee, Fifty Years of Boston, A Memorial 

Volume, (Boston, 1932). 

Bunting, William Henry, Portrait of a Port: Boston, 1852-1914 

(Cambridge, 1971). 

Damrell, Charles Stanhope, A Half Century of Boston's Building ... 

(Boston, 1895). 

Engelhardt, George W., Boston, Massachusetts (Boston, 1897). 

Herndon, Richard, comp., Boston of To-Day; a Glance at its History 

and Characteristics (Boston, 1892). 

+ 

Howard, Edward J. , "The Secretary's Report," in the Twent -Ninth 

Annual Report of the Boston Board of Trade ... Inclu lng a Commercial 

Review of Fifty Years (Boston, 1883), pp. 5- /O. 

Huse, Charles Phillips, The Financial History of Boston (Cambridge, 

1916). 

King, Moses, King's Handbook of Boston (Cambridge, 1885) . 

Langtry, Albert Perkins, ed., Metropolitan Boston, A Modem History 

(5 vols., New York, 1929). 

Pemberton, Thomas, "A Topographical and Historical Description of 

Boston, 1794," Massachusetts Historical Society Collections 3 

(1794), pp. 241-294. 

Stone, Orra L., "The Manufactures of Boston -- Hub of the Universe 

and Metropolis of New England," in his History of Massachusetts 

Industries (4 vols., Boston, 1930), vol. 2, pp. 1236 - 1621. 

Tucci, Douglas S., Built in Boston (Boston, 1979). 

Whitehill, Walter Muir, Boston: A Topographical History (Cambridge, 

1959; 2nd ed., 1968) 

Winsor, Justin, ed., The Memorial History of Boston, 1630-1880 

(4 vols., Boston, 1880 - 81). 



Date: 1980 Community: Brighton 

I. TOPOGRAPHY 

Brighton occupies approximately 4.3 square miles along the south 

bank of the Charles River, which forms parts of its northern 

and eastern boundary with Watertown and Cambridge. North Brigh- 

ton and Allston, separated from the rest of the town by the main 

line of the Boston 6 Albany Railroad and by the Mass. Turnpike, 

is a low floodplain wrapped by the river. To the south the land 

gradually rises until it reaches Chestnut Hill Reservoir at the 

southernmost corner of the town and 127 feet elevation. Other 

than the Charles River, Brighton has no major streams which 

might have supplied water power. 

11. POLITICAL BOUNDARIES 

Originally part of Cambridge grant with 1635 town line surviving 

as Brookline boundary between New Towne (Cambridge) and Muddy 

River (Boston). Division with Newton established 1691 with later 

adjustments around Newton Corner (Washington Street). Created 

as separate South Side or Little Cambridge parish by 1734 and 

established as independent town of Brighton in 1807 with Cam- 

bridge-Watertown boundary along Charles River. Brighton annexed 

to Boston 1874 with connection over Smet Brook (Brookline) along 

Commonwealth Avenue, thus included from Middlesex County to 

Suffolk (Boston). 

111. HISTORIC OVERVIEW 

Industrial suburban community of western Boston located on 

Charles River highlands to river plain with lowtide native ford- 

way reported at Larz Anderson Bridge (North Harvard Street) and 

apparent village site at Oak Square(Nonantum Street). Early 

settlement of area from Cambridge during mid-17th century with 

Praying Indian activities in adjacent Newton and Great Bridge 

at Charles River ford. Formation of separate South Cambridge 

parish by mid-18th century with meeting house and burying 

ground at Brighton enter (Market-Washington Streets) and a 

few altered Colonial estate houses in peripheral locations. 

Important logistical advantage during Revolution with Charles 

River fortification at Cottage Farm (BU Bridge) and establish- 

ment of regional cattle market at Brighton Center. Stockyards 

continued through Federal Period with shift to Cambridge and 

Boston turnpikes in North Brighton with some surviving period 

buildings, including original Taft Hotel (Western Avenue). 

Expansion of fringe activities with Western Railroad through 

North Brighton-Allston section during Industrial Period 

with several late 19th century structures of note, including 

suburban depot,cordage factory, electric station, and early 

three-decker prototypes along Massachusetts Turnpike corridor. 


IV. 

Brighton Center retained civic and commercial functions through 

early 20th century with surviving district of suburban Victorian 

homes along Sparhawk Street and urban business blocks along 

Washington Street including Late Classical courthouse. Location 

of Boston water system at Chestnut Hill Reservoir with authentic 

Picturesque plan and landmark pumping stations of national signi- 

ficance. Dramatic development of Allston-Aberdeen area as 

high density apartment district with trolley line along Common- 

wealth Avenue and Cleveland Circle with remarkable survival of 

original carhouse at Reservoir MBTA station. Formation of impor- 

tant Catholic institutional belt around Brighton Center by mid- 

20th century with extensive complexes of Neo-Gothic structures, 

including Boston College and St. Elizabeth's Hospital. Continued 

expansion of Boston development along Commonwealth Avenue during 

Modern Period with early auto showrooms near Boston University 

and Art Deco apartments around Cleveland Circle area. Remainder 

of Brighton developed as two-family and three-decker district 

around Oak Square with some period Bungalow houses and well- 

preserved municipal buildings,including notable school house 

fire station and library. North Brighton remained fringe in- 

dustrial district with abattoir and railyards along Charles River 

until recently, with Birmingham Parkway and Coca-Cola plant 

as period survivals. North Brighton-Franklin Street area 

remained isolated as well-preserved suburban neighborhood includ- 

ing Greek Revival and Queen Anne houses. Cambridge bridgehead 

developed as Harvard University complex with landmark early con- 

crete stadium, Shingle Style boat house and Colonial Revival 

Business School campus. Present development is evident along 

Massachusetts Turnpike corridor, and Charles River parkways, 

institutional expansion into residential areas around Boston 

College and St. Elizabeth's Hospital. Commonwealth Avenue apart- 

ment district suffering from neglect and real estate instability 

with similar problem evident around Oak Square with obvious 

arson and immigrant tenements. 

CONTACT PERIOD (1500-1620) 


Corridor of routes from Charles River ford sites at Cambridge 

and Watertown to Muddy River with trails assumed as Harvard- 

Cambridge-North Harvard Streets and Washington Street from Oak 

Square. Cross link between Watertown and Cambridge fords appears 

to be ~aneuil-MarketWestern Avenue to North Harvard Street. 

Trail connections to Oak Square from Newton highlands documented 

as Nonanm Street ("Indian Lane" 1830 map), yith presumed routes 

to Watertown ford as Washington Street and to Jamaica Pond along 

axis of Lake Street around Chandler's Pond. 


B. Settlement Pattern: 

One probable period site known as "Nonantum" probably lo- 

cated in the vicinity of Gallagher Park. Other period sites 

likely along the Charles River and on adjacent terraces and 

hills. 


Access to seasonal fish runs in the Charles and to other 

estuary resources. Good agricultural land along Charles. 


Area along Charles probably had a large though seasonal popu- 

lation. Apparently part of the northern extent of the Massachusett 

core area. Proximity to coast makes the presence of contact 

materials probable. 

FIRST SETTLEMENT PERIOD 

A. Trans~ortation Routes: 

Native trails improved as connecting highways between Brookline 

and Tremont (Washington Street) and Brookline and Cambridge ferry 

(Harvard-Cambridge-North Harvard Streets) by mid-17th century, 

with Great Bridge over Charles River (1660). Alternate road be- 

tween Cambridge and Watertown from Oak Square (Washington-Faneuil- 

Marker-Western Avenue-North Harvard Street) with suspected ford 

to Oldham site (Perkins) in Watertown at Arsenal Street bridge. 


First settled 1635 from Cambridge, of which it remained a 

part until 1807. By 1688, 28 families in what is now Brighton. 


Outlying agricultural district of Cambridge during mid-17th 

century with important ford-bridge crossing of Charles River at 

North Harvard Street. Native Praying Village reported at Oak 

Square during 1650's with adjacent site at Nonantum (Newton). 


Primarily farming. First ferry established 1635 across 

Charles, followed by Great Bridge, built 1662. River crossing 

made Brighton integral part of "highway to Boston." 



Highways remained in place from 17th century. Location of 

meeting house at Brighton Center prompts radial roads as Market 

Street-Chestnut Hill Avenue to Cambridge and Brookline by mid-18th 


century. Other local highways of the period appear as portions 

of Lake Street and Commonwealth Avenue around Chestnut Hill 

Reservoir area. 

B. Population : 

Growth from 28 families in 1688 to 60 families (400 people) 

in 1780. 


Continued development of agricultural economy through mid-18th 

century with formation of estate farms on Faneuil Hill and Harvard 

Street (Union Square). Town center established at Washington 

and Chestnut Hill-Market Streets with meeting house (1741) and 

burying ground (1764). Revolutionary War prompts development 

of cattle market at Brighton Center and construction of impor- 

tant fortifications at Cottage Farm (BU Bridge) by 1775. 


Primarily farming. At least one small slaughterhouse operated 

by Jonathan Winship. T.H. McVey described Brighton's beginning as a 

cattle market: "When Washington was at Dorchester Heights, he 

needed supplies of beef for his troops. In Brighton he contacted 

Jonathan Winship who ran a small slaughterhouse. Winship sent 

out a call to many local and outside cattle dealers to bring meat 

to Brighton. The arrangement worked so well that many of the 

cattle dealers themselves afterward set up slaughtering places and 

so the business grew." 

Architecture: 

Residential: Perhaps a half dozen 18th-century structures 

survive in Brighton. These include several twin chimney houses 

at Union Square and a gambrel-roofed central chimney cottage at 

Oak Square. No highstyle structures remain, although at least 

one important Boston family, the Faneuils, had a country estate 

in Brighton. 

VII. FEDERAL PERIOD (1775-1830) 


Rapid improvement of access to Boston with Charles River 

bridges and turnpikes from Cambridge as Cambridge Street to 

Brighton Center (1811) and Western Avenue to Watertown (1824). 

Back Bay mill dam opens connections to Boston and Watertown as 

Beacon Street-Commonwealth Avenue (1821). 

Population: 

At incorporation of town, 1807, population stood at 608, up 

from 400 in 1780. Virtually no growth in this period, as popu- 

lation had only reached 972 by 1830. 


Settlement Pattern: 

Opening of Cambridge, Watertown and Back Bay bridges by 

early 19th century stimulated development of Brighton Center 

as suburban supply district with cattle market and nursery 

gardens along Market Street with taverns and hotels along 

Western Avenue, Beacon and Cambridge Streets andworkers' 

district on Allston and Foster Streets. 


Probably several small slaughterhouses, though not noted 

in the McLane Report of 1832. Winship's Horticultural Garden, 

established 1822 at site of later abattoir, said to be "the 

earliest attempt in this section of thecountry at raising young 

ornamental and useful plants for sale in the style of European 

nurseries," (Hayward, Gazetteer). 

E. Architecture 

Residential: Several twin rear wall chimney and twin 

interior chimney vernacular Federal houses stand on Franklin 

and North Harvard Streets along with one central chimney 

vernacular house dating ca. 1810 on Charlesview Street, an apparent 

tenant farmhouse from the Faneuil Estate, Several more twin 

rear wall Federal houses stand on Chestnut Street with a single 

hip-roofed end chimney example with later extensions on Washing- 

ton Street. A group of late Federal cottages on Brayton Pd.(?)-Tr-nt 

Street was apparently moved there from some other location. No 

longer standing is an important local example of the Regency 

Greek Revival, a house built in 1821 on Faneuil Street. 

VIII. EARLY INDUSTRIAL (1830-1870) 


Turnpikes and highways remained from the early 19th 

century. Rz-ilroad corridor for Boston area routes through 

Brighton with Boston C, Worcester (1835) across Charles River 

meadows and depot at Harvard Avenue (Allston). Early horse 

railway lines (1858) from Cambridge to Brighton Center and 

Newton along Cambridge-Washington-Tremont Streets through 

Oak Square, portions intact as Watertown MBTA Green Line 

(abandoned). Cottage Farm Bridge (1850) opened to Cambridge 

from Brookline (now BU Bridge-Route 2). 


Between about 1840 and 1865, population rose fairly steadily 

at a rate of about 95-100 people per year, reaching 3854 in 

the latter year. About 26% of the 1865 population were foreign 

born, 4/5ths of whom were Irish. 



Continued development of suburban fringe activities with 

Boston 6 Worcester Railroad along Charles River meadows. 

Suburban depots established at Allston (Cambridge ~t.-~arvard 

Avenue) and North Brighton at Market Street with parallel 

growth along Cambridge-Watertown horsecar route through Union 

Square, Brighton Center and Oak Square by mid-19th century. 

Local suburban district emerged around Brighton Center along 

Sparhawk Street with axis to Cambridge Street and modest sub- 

divisions around Allston depot (Linden-Ashford Streets). Cattle 

market shifted to rail yards at North Brighton, while Brighton 

Center retained civic and commercial activity for area. Chest- 

nut Hill Reservoir created (1848) as Picturesque design from 

lowland bog. 


The period was the heyday of the independent slaughterhouses, 

largely stimulated by the opening of the Boston 6 Worcester 

Railroad which brought in livestock in large numbers. (Prior 

to the railroad's arrival, most beef had to be put up in barrels 

and salted). By 1847 John Hayward could write in his Gazetteer 

that Brighton was then "the largest cattle market in New England ... 

Near the spacious Cattle Fair Hotel [Washington 6 Market Streets] 

and connected therewith are extensive barns, stables, and sheds 

for the sheltering of stock and more than one hundred pleasant 

and convenient yards for the sale of cattle, sheep, and swine, 

many of which are paved, and all furnished with excellent water." 

In 1865 there were 34 slaughterhouses, most located in the 

northeast part of town, and the value of beef, pork, and mutton 

stood at $3.9 million. But despite Hayward's glowing descrip- 

tion, by the 1860s the industry had become an offensive menace 

to the public health. One of the first acts of the State Board 

of Health established in 1869 was the preparation of a report 

on slaughtering for the Boston market, specifically targeted at 

abuses and unsanitary conditions at Brighton. The resulting 

legislation (Ch. 365, 1870) gave the Board of Health powers 

to authorize or reject all applications for slaughtering in the 

Boston area and established a private corporation -- the Butchers' 

Slaughtering and Melting Association in Brighton -- to construct 

a modern abattoir. 

Other industries in Brighton in this period, fueled by extensive 

lumber and coal yards served by river sloop traffic, included 

varnish manufacture, and, by 1865, five cordage works. There 

were also extensive factories for rendering, and the Boston 

6 Albany Railroad constructed extensive car shops parallel to 

Braintree Street. 



Residential: Perhaps a dozen porticoed Greek Revival houses, 

both sidehall and center entrance examples, still stand in 

Brighton along with a number of more modest sidehall cottages 

and houses. Comparatively few well-developed Italianate houses 

were built,although many houses combining elements of the Greek 

Revival and Italianate were constructed and at least a few 

suburban villas and towered Italianate examples are known. 

Fully developed Italianate houses do not appear until the end 

of the period when they are most often found with mansard roofs 

in the Second Empire style. A few early three-story, flat- 

roofed bracketed tenement blocks at North Brighton may date from 

the end of the period. 


At least three schools and a poor house are recorded for 

the period; no buildings are known to survive. 

Commercial: 

Several important Greek Revival structures survive in 

Brighton, the most significant of these being the Taft Hotel, 

a three-story porticoed Greek Revival row on Western Avenue, 

believed to be the only hotel remaining from the days of Brighton's 

cattle-related economy. Also standing is at least one substantial 

Greek Revival commercial block at Washington and Market Streets. 

IX. LATE INDUSTRIAL PERIOD (1870-1915) 


Steam and horse railroads remained from mid-19th century 

with extension of electric trolley lines through Brighton during 

late 19th century. Local routes from Brookline, Watertown and 

Cambridge operated on Beacon, Harvard, Market and Western Avenue, 

with primary trolley route from Boston along Commonwealth Avenue 

by 1895, still operated as MBTA Boston College line with loop 

at Lake Street and connections to Reservoir carhouse on Chest- 

nut Hill Avenue. Grand Junction rail link across Charles 

River to Cambridge from Allston freight yards opened by 1870. 


Initial 15 years, 1870-85, growth averaged 237 per year 

(with ellipsis 1875- 80), probably based on expanding industrial 

base. Accelerated growth 1885-1915 averaged 758 per year with 

peak 5-year period 1910-15 at 1641 per year due to expansion 

of streetcar network. Beginning about 1900 Eastern European 

Jews and Lithuanians settled in North Brighton area attracted 

by work in abattoir. 



Rapid expansion of suburban development with opening of 

electric trolley lines by early 20th century. Cambridge- 

Watertown corridor along Western Avenue and Cambridge Street 

developed as fringe industrial district along mainline rail- 

road with regional freight yards at Allston along Charles 

River. Speculative apartment construction followed extension 

of Commonwealth Avenue streetcar route to Chestnut Hill Reser- 

voir with development of area between Harvard and Washington 

Streets as high density residential district. Suburban areas 

remained of limited extent around Brighton Center with axis 

along Sparhawk Street. Commercial and civic focus expanded 

at Brighton Center along Washington-Cambridge Streets to Oak 

and Union Squares with secondary activity along Harvard St-Haward Ave. 

to Allston depot and Western Avenue to North Brighton cattle 

yards. Athletic facilities established along Charles River 

with Harvard Stadium (1902) and race track on Soldiers Field 

Road. 


Period begun with construction of abattoir in North Brighton, 

close to river. Modeled on abattoirs in France and England, 

the facility opened in 1873, a few days after the act providing 

for Brighton's annexation was signed. By this time, despite 

growing trade, much of the business was shared with Fitchburg 

Railroad markets in Watertown and North Cambridge. 

Most of Brighton's industry located either on the plain north 

of the tracks -- rope walks, varnish and glue works and the 

Brookline Gas Co. -- or along the tracks themselves, on either 

side of the railroad car shops. Here associated machine shops, 

car wheel and box factories were erected, and in 1889 the first 

powerhouse of the West End Street Railway's electrified system. 

In the 18901s, Sewall 6 Day moved their Standard Rope 6 Twine 

Co. from Roxbury to the Everett Street location. The wood- 

frame ropewalk ran between still-extant headhouses on Lincoln 

Street and Western Avenue. 

Several nurseries were established in the highlands -- along 

Tremont Street and, at 163 Kendrick, William Elliott's extensive 

Nonantum Nursery. Metropolitan Water Works constructed monumen- 

tal high-service pumping station at Chestnut Hill Reservoir, 

1887; low service, 1900. 


Residential: The bulk of Brighton's residential construction 

occurred during this period with many two-family houses and 

three-deckers and comparatively few single-family houses 

constructed. A few highstyle Queen Anne, Shingle Style and 

Colonial Revival houses were built along Commonwealth Avenue 

and above Oak Square, with most single family houses being 

somewhat more modest, but well-detailed examples of the same 

styles. At least a few Mission Revival single family houses 


were constructed along with a few Craftsman-derived structures. 

More ambitious houses use brick, stucco and stone detailing. 

By contrast, most multiple family houses are of wooden construc- 

tion. Many Queen Anne and Colonial Revival two-families and 

three-deckers were built south of Oak Square, along Washington 

Street and at North Brighton. In addition to these more modest 

multiple-family dwellings, a number of substantial brick apart- 

ment blocks were constructed toward the end of the period, 

especially south of Commonwealth Avenue and around Cleveland 

Circle: most of these are detailed with stock concrete trim in 

Beaux Arts and Georgian Revival designs. 


During this period Brighton became the site for a number 

of large institutions, primarily affiliated with the Catholic 

Church. Most of these early 20th century buff brick structures 

in Beaux Arts and Baroque-derived designs. Other major institu- 

tional uses include the Chestnut Hill Reservoir with some of 

Boston's most impressive highstyle municipal structures (High 

Service Station, Richardsonian Romanesque, Arthur Vinal, 1889; 

Low Service Station, Beaux Arts Classical, Shepley, Rutan and 

Coolidge, 1905; assorted smaller Beaux Arts structures, ca. 

1890-1915) and portions of the campus of Harvard University 

(Harvard Stadium, Neo-classical, McKim, Mead and White, 1902). 

Also, Commonwealth Armory (1909, J.E. McLaughlin). In addition 

to these major institutional buildings,a number of municipal 

buildings were completed (Police Station, E.M. Wheelwright, 

1891; Engine #51, Maginnis and Walsh, 1912; Taft High School, 

E.M. Wheelwright, 1894) along with several churches (St. Gabriel's, 

T.E. Sheehan, 1909; Oak Square Methodist, 1911; First Unitarian, 

Cabot, Everett, and Mead, 1894). These are Beaux Arts Classi- 

cal Rennaissance Revival or Gothic Revival in style, although 

a Mission-related variant of the Craftsman style is well repre- 

sented in Brighton's period institutional buildings. 

Commercial: 

Commercial centers developed at Union Square and at Washington 

and Market Streets with three and four story brick buildings 

in High Victorian Gothic, Rennaissance and Romanesque Revival 

and Queen Anne styles. The most pretentious of these date 

from the late 19th century and include the Warren Building 

(1879), Nagle Building (1892) and the Imperial Building (1899). 

Also constructed in the period was the Richardsonian Allston 

Depot (Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge, 1887). 

Industrial: 

The most significant surviving industrial structure is the 

Stick Style/Queen Anne car barn of the West End Street Railway 

(ca.1889). Other buildings at North Brighton include some 

frame structures and a number of well-detailed brick buildings, 

both complexes being utilitarian in design. 


X. EARLY MODERN PERIOD (1915-1940) 


Streetcar routes remained in operation through mid-20th 

century, with original routes still in place on Commonwealth 

Avenue and Beacon-Cambridge-Washington-Tremont Streets, in- 

cluding surviving trolley loop at Oak Square. Metropolitan 

District Commission auto roads along Charles River opened 

during 1930s along Soldiers Field Road with original route 

intact as Birmingham Parkway including period landscaping and 

lighting. 


Brighton was the last ward of the city to experience 

suburban growth. By 1935 (the last date for which population 

figures were located), Brighton was growing at the rate of 

over 2120 people a year. In that year the population stood 

at 66,995. Brighton at this time was experiencing a new wave 

of immigrants as the second generation of Eastern European 

Jews left the poorer communities of Roxbury and North and West 

ends for the more prosperous community of Brighton. Much of the 

Cleveland Circle area was settled at this time, while Italians, 

attracted by nearby quarries and the silk mill, settled closer 

to the railroad. 


Development of residential districts continued along major 

trolley lines through mid-20th century. Apartment construction 

extended along Commonwealth Avenue to Lake Street around Chest- 

nut Hill Reservoir and as three-decker building along Water- 

town carline on Cambridge-Washington-Tremont Streets from 

Brighton Center. Modest two-family districts were developed 

along Faneuil, Lake and Foster Streets to Newton line. 

Catholic institutional belt emerged around Brighton Center 

from Chestnut Hill to Union Square (Boston College-St. Elizabeth's 

Hospital) by 1930's with important regional facilities. 

Commercial strip activity extended along Charles River auto 

roads and Western Avenue between Cambridge and Watertown. 

Fringe district continued along mainline railroad through 

North Brighton and Allston with regional facilities for 

freight yards, cattle slaughter and steel fabrication. Brighton 

Center remained as primary commercial and civic focus with 

secondary activity along Harvard St.-Ave. and Washington Street 

to Oak Square. Expansion of Harvard University facilities along 

North Harvard Street with Business School (1924). 


Most of the cordage works by this period had gone out of 

business. The largest of them, Sewall and Day, was converted 

to a silk mill by the New England Spun Silk Co. and became a 


major employer of Italian labor. About 1910-15 Carnegie 

Steel constructed its New England Steel warehouse opposite the 

BGA car shops, followed within a decade by the iron and steel 

warehouse of the Harvey Co. on the opposite side of the tracks. 

For the two decades beginning in 1910, Commonwealth and 

Brighton Avenues witnessed the construction of numerous auto 

showrooms and service stations, often elaborately designed. 

One of the earliest was the 1910 Packard showroom built by 

Alvan T. Fuller (later governor) at the corner of Commonwealth 

and Brighton Avenues. Behind it in the '20's were built 

factories and warehouses for storage batteries and plate glass. 

North Beacon Street at the same time developed a group of truck 

showrooms and service stations as Mack, General Motors, and 

International Harvester all built outlets between61 and 103 

North Beacon. 


Residential: The bulk of residential construction in this 

period consisted of stuccoed and frame Craftsman two-family 

houses although at least a few well-developed bungalows, includ- 

ing one to designs of Los Angeles architect, were constructed. 

In addition, brick apartment blocks continued to be built in 

numbers. Most of these are Georgian or Mission Revival in 

style with a very few mildly-stated Modernedesigns. 

Institutional : 

Several Catholic institutions and churches were constructed 

including the Cenacle Convent (Tudor Revival, Maginnis and 

Walsh, 1922). Also constructed were a ModerneLibrary Branch 

(Kilham, Hopkins and Greeley, 1931) and Brighton High School 

(Tudor Revival, OIConnell and Shaw, 1929). The campus of 

the Harvard Business School (Georgian Revival, McKim, Mead 6 

White, 1924) was put up during the period. 

Commercial: 

Commercial structures of the period include a number of 

well-detailed Modern? and Revival auto showrooms on Commonwealth 

Avenue, most of these with surviving high quality interior 

detailing. Several Modernegas stations survive on Western 

Avenue while a number of one-story concrete and brick corner- 

store blocks were constructed at neighborhood centers and on 

Commonwealth and Harvard Avenues; at least one block on 

Harvard Avenue retains Mission Revival detailing. Also 

standing is the Mission Revival entrance to Boston Braves 

stadium (1915), now part of the Boston University campus. 


XI. SURVEY OBSERVATIONS 

Although the Brighton survey is as yet incomplete, its work 

has already included the Sewall 6 Day cordage works, the Chest- 

nut Hill Reservoir pumping stations, the Allston depot, and 

Harvard Stadium,allof which deserve NR nominations. Buildings 

which deserve further study include the early wood-frame 

machine shop at 81 Braintree Street (18701s), the West End 

Street Railway's Allston Powerhouse (43 Braintree), Angier 

Chemical Co. laboratory (244 Brighton Avenue), and the Packard 

Motor Car showroom (1910-1929, 1079 Commonwealth Avenue). 

XII. SOURCES 

Boston 200 Corp., Brighton (Boston, 1975). 

McVey, T.H., Historic Brighton, Events and Places (n.p., 1967). 

Shaw, Helen, "Brighton," Our Boston, Vol. 1 (Nov. 1926), pp. 15-21. 

Drake, Francis Samuel, "Brighton," in Memorial History of Boston, 

(Boston, 1880), Vol., 3 pp. 601-611. 



- 

Date: December 1980 Community: Charlestown 

TOPOGRAPHY 

Charlestown is an oblong peninsula located in Boston Harbor 

at the confluence of the Mystic and Charles rivers. The 

original land area, amounting to approximately 424 acres, 

was dominated by two drumlins -- Bunker and Breeds Hills, 

and to the southwest, Town (aka Windmill or West) Hill. 

Of the three, Bunker Hill, at 113 feet elevation, is the 

highest. Charlestown was joined to the mainland by a 

narrow "neck" of land, which, with access to the Middlesex 

Canal, the millpond, wharves, and a bridge to Malden early 

became a key location of industrial development. The Navy 

Yard chose the other prime location, where the combining 

currents of the Charles and Mystic Rivers made a natural 

deep-water port. As Charlestown's port and rail facilities 

increased during the late 19th century, an additional 400 

acres of filled land were added, by 1910 virtually doubling 

the city's land area. But for its harbor access, Charles- 

town has no streams or other bodies of water, and much of 

her 18th and early 19th-century brick-making was on land 

subsequently included in Somerville. 

POLITICAL BOUNDARIES 

Originally settled by Thomas Walford (c.1625) and acquired 

as site of Massachusetts Bay Colony capital of Charlestown 

(also "Charleston") in 1629. Informal boundary established 

with Boston along Charles River (c.1630) and with Cambridge 

along Millers River (1632). Division of Mysticside to 

Malden (1726) along Mystic River with exception of Penny 

Ferry (now Alford St.-Malden Bridge leg). Separation of 

Somerville (1842) defines western boundaries around Sullivan 

Square. Incorporated as a city (1847) and later annexed 

as part of Boston (1873) 

HISTORIC OVERVIEW 

Historic urban center at primary focus of routeways west 

and north of inner Boston region. Located on original 

Mishawum peninsula between Mystic and Charles rivers with 

potential native sites under tidal landfill perimeter. 

Site of early English settlement before 1630 with Walford 

trading post. Original 17th century Charlestown street 

grid survives intact on Town Hill as early example of 

urban planning with site potential at summit park. 

Authentic First Period burying ground contains wide array 

of carving styles with several stones before 1675. Early 

ferry connections to Boston and waterfront potential 

developed important Colonial urban center with civic 

focus at City Square and shipping docks around Water St. 


area. Site of Revolutionary Battle of Bunker Hill at crest 

of Breeds Hill with destruction of entire urban area by fire 

and bombardment with possible exception of tidemill village 

around Sullivan Square, although no apparent pre-fire build- 

ings remain. Original town area rebuilt in late 18th century 

with stimulus of Boston bridge connections including several 

late gambrel houses, one of Mystic brick plan, and well- 

preserved examples of early Federal style mansions around 

Thompson Sq. Location of State Prison and U.S. Navy Yard in 

early 19th century established fringe activities around 

waterfront with original granite buildings and brick head- 

quarters preserved in Shipyard Historic Park with period 

frigate Constitution. Increasing proximity to Boston expan- 

sion by bridge and public transit shifts scale of residential 

development during mid-19th century to brick urban row house 

with well-preserved status districts on Town Hill, and around 

Monument Square of Greek Revival and Italianate design includ- 

ing some with New York brownstone details. Bunker Hill Monument 

remains as early granite architecture and urban observatory. 

Further expansion of fringe development around perimeter of 

waterfront during Industrial period with railroad infill along 

Charles and Mystic Rivers and important regional focus at 

Sullivan Square including survival of period gasholder and 

workers' cottages. Continued residential development of 

remaining land on Bunker and Breeds Hills through late 19th 

century, primarily with wooden tenement rows of modest design 

and later brick examples of Boston plan. Town center remained 

a City Square through early 20th century rebuilt with Neo- 

classical municipal structures, while commercial axis devel- 

oped with elevated railroad under Main St., including well- 

preserved Victorian Gothic bank and church around Thompson 

Sq. with other period churrhes around Breeds Hill. Industrial 

expansion maintained through mid-20th century along Mystic 

waterfront with landmark period factories and transit facili- 

ties at Sullivan Square and early public housing complex on 

Medford St. with period playground. At present, urban revital- 

ization has restored much of historic period housing between 

Thompson and Monument Squares with expansion of activity 

along axis of High St. Industrial development continues 

along Mystic waterfront affecting stability of residential 

districts around Sullivan Square while urban renewal projects 

have cleared much of historic fabric along Millers River, 

threatening viability of historic sites at Phipps St. 

cemetery and Town Hill. Potential of expressway relocation 

at City Square and Navy Yard offers important archeological 

recovery of original waterfront zones. 



Mishawum peninsula connected to mainland from Charles 

River tidelands along trail which apparently follows axis of 

Main St. with possible branch to Mystic River from City 


Square as Park-Common-Adams Sts. It would also seem likely 

that a trail was located on the Mystic side of Mishawum 

peninsula along the present course of Medford St., although 

no evidence is available. Cambridge St. and Broadway follow 

documented trail routes from isthmus (Sullivan Sq.) to interior. 


A probable period site (19-SU-44) reported on the grounds 

of Bunker Hill Community College; largely destroyed in 1971. 

Other period sites probably existed but have been destroyed 

by the area's intense development. 

C. - Subsistence Pattern: 

A major access point to the estuary resources of both 

the Charles and Mystic rivers, especially shellfish, fish 

and waterfowl. A prime location for native-European trade. 


Although originally an area of dense, and probably 

seasonal, native occupation, it is difficult to form any 

detailed impression due to the early date of colonial 

settlement and density of subsequent development. The 

identity of native occupants is unclear; location is on 

the border between Massachusett core area in southern 

portion of Mass. Bay and Pawtucket related group based in 

the Mystic/Malden/Saugus Rivers drainage area. 

V. FIRST SETTLEMENT PERIOD 


Native trail along Main St. improved as highway to 

ambridge and Medford by mid-17th century. Charlestown 

treet plan (1629) includes Harvard and Warren Sts. from 

Thompson Sq. around Town Hill. It is also likely that 

Bunker Hill St. was laid out as division highway across 

Breeds Hill planting lots during this period, although no 

evidence is available. Important earlier ferry routes 

established from Charlestown to Boston (1631) at City Square 

and from Charlestown Neck (Sullivan Sq.) to Malden (1640). 


Earliest settlement c.1625 by blacksmith Thomas Walford. 

Arrival of Winthrop 1629 temporarily raises population over 

1500, most of whom departed for Shawmut Peninsula. Popula- 

tion in 1633, 58 men, "most of whom had families" (Bartlett). 

Figures unavailable for remainder of period but may have 

reached 4-500 by 1680s. 


VI. 


Preformal English occupation at head of Mishawum 

peninsula with Thomas Walford house in vicinity of Training 

Field (Common St.) apparently by 1625. Formal settlement 

by Massachusetts Company in 1629 with Charles Town plan 

(Thomas Graves, surveyor) across Main St. from Walford site. 

Original street plan survives intact with unique semi- 

circular arrangement around Harvard St. hill crest. Civic 

center established at Town Square (City Sq.) at foot of 

Main St. with Great House while commercial focus develops 

around Town Dock cove (Henley-Wapping Sts.) with fortifica- 

tions at crest of Harvard St. (Town Hill) and at Moultons 

Point (Navy Yard) during 1630s. Fringe land use defines 

Millers River tideflats with burying ground (Phipps St.) 

and tide mill (Mill St.) by mid-17th century. 


- 

Great Ferry established to Boston, 1631,at later 

Charles River Bridge location; Penny Ferry to Malden, 1640, 

from neck. Streets and Hill Fort laid out by engineer 

Thomas Graves. Initial pursuits in farming and building; 

windmill built 1635 by Robert Hawkins on Town Hill; tide 

mill at neck by 1645. By 1640s extensive commerce begun 

including whale fishery and West India trade. First shipyard 

erected 1641 by Francis Willoughby. First drydock in the 

country built 1677-78 by James Russell on inducements of 

General Court (Bartlett) . 

COLONIAL PERIOD 


Highways and ferries remain from 17th century with Main 

St. as primary road and Bunker H i l l Ave. as secondary way. 

Local roads of the period include M i l l St. to tidemill and 

Tufts St. to brickyards. 


By 1765 Charlestown and Somerville had a combined popula- 

tion of 2048, of which probably 17-1800 resided on the 

Charlestown peninsula, including about 120 blacks. By 1775, 

the date of the British destruction of the city, the popula- 

tion had reached 2000, with 380-400 buildings, almost all of 

which were destroyed. 


Civic and commercial center remained between meeting 

house (City Sq.) and ship cove (Wapping St.). Gradual 

expansion of settlement west along Main St. to mill village 


VII. 

on Neck (Sullivan Sq.) by mid-18th century with status 

area on Town Hill (Harvard St.) and similar growth to 

Moultons Point (Navy Yard) and brickyards (Tufts St.). 

Fortifications eskablished on Breeds Hill during Battle 

of Bunker Hill in 1775 (now Monument site) and entire town 

destroyed by fire along Main St. axis from Town Hill with 

possible exception of Neck village (Sullivan Sq.). No 

accurate map of fire area is available from documentation. 


Manufactures included rum, loaf sugar, candles, leather 

and potash, while tailors, coopers, rope-makers, glaziers, 

tile-makers, anchor smiths and the like made Charlestown the 

principal industrial port of the colony in this period. 

Shops, warehouses and wharves encouraged extensive foreign 

trade, and furs, lumber, pipe staves and building frames 

were exported. 

Architecture: 

Residential: Of the houses standing before the 1775 

burning of the town, none are known to survive, although 

at least one house (and probably some more at the western 

end of town) apparently did survive the fire: Hunnewell, 

writing in 1888, visited his family's ancestral home, des- 

cribing it as a two-story central chimney house built before 

1710. Portions of the town were burned in 1776 as a defen- 

sive strategy by the Americans, further reducing the likeli- 

hood of any early material surviving. Nonetheless, 

Hunnewell's statement about visiting a pre-1710 house sug- 

gests the possiblity that some colonial structures may have 

stood through the 19th century and (though unrecognized) 

may yet exist. 

FEDERAL PERIOD 

A. Transuortation Routes: 

Highways remain from 18th century with ferries replaced 

by connecting bridges to Boston (1786) across Charles River 

at Washington St. and to Malden (1787) across Mystic River 

at Broadway. Bridge connections stimulate further turnpike 

construction with Chelsea Bridge across Mystic (1802) and 

Prison Point Bridge across Millers River to East Cambridge 

(1810). Charlestown Neck (Sullivan Sq.) becomes terminus 

for Middlesex Canal (1805) with canal basin at Miller River 

tide dam (original route now lost through railroad fill, 

save for West St.). Local streets of the period include 

subdivisions along High St. and Washington St. from City 

Sq. Early omnibus service from Boston across Charles River 

Bridge (1826) with Warren Ave. Bridge (1828). 



Charlestown's population figures are recorded with those 

of Somerville until 1842, though the latter's size remained 

only a small part of Charlestown's population, generally 

about one-tenth of the total. After destruction by the 

British, the town fairly rapidly returned to its original 

size. By 1785 the peninsula had 151 buildings and a popula- 

tion of 550; by 1790 its townspeople numbered over a thousand; 

and by 1814 there were 5,000 inhabitants and 670 buildings. 

By 1830 the combined Charlestown/Somerville figure stood at 

8,783, of which probably about 8,000 lived on the peninsula. 

Settlement Patterns: 

Opening of Boston Bridge after Revolution spurs rebuild- 

ing of fire area from Town Hill to Thompson Sq. along Main 

St. during late 18th century, with division of house lots 

from Warren to High Sts. on Breeds H i l l as status residential 

district. Location of Navy Yard (1800) and State Prison 

(1805) on tide flats accentuates fringe activities around 

edge of town center from Chelsea Bridge to Prison Point 

Bridge during early 19th century. Similar fringe develop- 

ment evident at Charlestown Neck with completion of Middlesex 

Canal (1805) and conversion of tide mill to canal basin at 

Miller River. Residential expansion continues around Breeds 

H i l l along High St. with alms house and burying ground on 

Mystic backslope along Bunker Hill Ave. near brickyards. 


Town became center of expanding transportation network 

as Charles River Bridge (1786), Middlesex Canal (1803), 

Chelsea Bridge (1803), Warren Bridge (1828) and turnpikes 

combine to direct commerce and manufacturers to neck and 

waterfront. Charles River Bridge (1503 feet in length on 

75 piers) called "the greatest enterprise which had been 

undertaken in the country" (Bartlett). Thirteen wharves 

noted in 1785 and deep-water ice-free port attracted U.S. 

Navy to construct Navy Yard beginning in 1800. Navy Yard 

in turn attracts other maritime-related industries. Three 

rope walks by 1805 and "trade and navigation greatly in- 

creased." At the neck extensive factories for manufacture 

of Morocco leather, candles, soap, molasses, and malt 

liquors. One of the earliest was the candle factory of 

Solomon Hovey, followed in 1821 by a brewery later operated 

by the Van Nostrand family. After 1804 the Washington St. 

waterfront developed. Jaques' wharf (from which quantities 

of hops were inspected and exported) joined by Barker ship- 

yard and turpentine distillery. By end of period manufacture 

of rum led list of manufactured products ($203,000 in 1832), 

followed by tanning ($136,000) and the production of soap 

and candles ($91,000). Shipbuilding, however, employed 

the largest number (100 men). 



Residential: Charlestown retains the greatest concentra- 

tion of frame Federal houses in the Boston vicinity. Rapidly 

rebuilt after the Revolution, Charlestown had some 280 new 

dwellings by 1785, thus making the Federal buildings there 

among the earliest examples of the style in the Boston area. 

Most of these are three-story, hip-roofed, brick end wall 

and twin rear wall chimney houses set short side onto the 

street. Most are simple vernacular examples although a few 

have quoins and decorative door surrounds. Also surviving 

are a few retardataire highstyle post-Colonial houses with 

monitor roofs and quoins as well as a very few gambrel-roofed 

center-chimney houses and at least one end-chimney, gambrel- 

roofed brick house. Hip-roofed brick double houses sharing 

twin rear wall chimneys and a few brick and frame double 

houses consisting of a center entrance house with a side- 

hall house attached were also built. 

Institutional: Although at least four meetinghouses 

were constructed in the period, none survive. The most 

imposing of these was the First Congregational Church, 

built in 1783 and remodelled in 1804 by Charles Bulfinch, 

who enlarged the building and added an elaborate two-stage 

belfry and steeple. The first Town Hall (1818), a three- 

story, brick Federal structure, was built at City Square. 

Five schoolhouses, two brick and three frame, were also con- 

structed as was an almshouse. In 1800, two important 

facilities were established in Charlestown: the State Prison 

and the Navy Yard. The State Prison, a granite building 

with a five-story hip-roofed central pavilion and four-story 

flanking wings, was completed in 1804-5; while the earliest 

buildings at the Navy Yard, of brick, date between 1803 and 

1809 (Commandant's House); the granite drydock (Loammi 

Baldwin, Alexander Parris) was begun in 1827 and completed 

in 1834. Work on Charlestown's most famous structure, the 

220' granite Bunker Hill Monument (Solomon Willard), was 

commenced in 1825. Only the Navy Yard buildings and 

Monument survive. 

Commercial: At least two taverns were constructed in 

the period, both hip-roofed Federal structures: the frame 

Warren Tavern (1780) is believed to be one of the first 

structures built after the fire. The other tavern is the 

Salem Turnpike Inn, a brick end wall building on Winthrop 

Square. Also built was the Austin Block (c. 1822), a three- 

story, hip-roofed commercial structure built of stone from 

Brewster Island in Boston Harbor. 


VIII. EARLY INDUSTRIAL PERIOD 


Charlestown peninsula becomes terminus for inland rail- 

roads with tidewater wharves. Original route of Charlestown 

Branch- Fitchburg (1837) to Navy Yard across Millers River 

with Boston and Main (1845) and Eastern-Grand Junction 

(1854) also over Millers River flats, infilling Middlesex 

Canal basin. Early street railroads operate from Boston 

to City Square along Main-Warren, Chelsea and Bunker Hill 

Sts. by 1860 with connections at Sullivan Sq. to Somerville 

and Malden. Medford St. laid out along Mystic River around 

Bunker Hill to Sullivan Sq. 


Fluctuating population growth, with greatest rise 1850- 

55, though the city tripled in size between 1830 and 1870, 

reaching 28,323 in the latter year. In 1865, 22 percent 

of the population were foreign-born, of whom three-quarters 

were Irish. 


Dramatic increase in urban density prompted by growth 

of Boston during mid- 19th century. Status residential 

district extended from Thompson Sq. (Main St.) to Monument 

Sq. (Lexington St.) as urban row houses, while multiple- 

family tenement district expands on Bunker Hill Ave. from 

Navy Yard. Civic focus remained around City Sq. with com- 

mercial center shifted to Thompson Sq. along Main St. 

Fringe activities intensified around Mystic and Charles 

tideflats with railroad terminals, especially at Sullivan 

Sq. neck, while waterfront fire (1835) destroys original 

Town Dock area (Water St.) rebuilt as axis along Chelsea St. 


City's primary economic strength was as a post. From 

Charlestown Bridge to the Navy Yard wharfage was center 

of export ice trade as dozens of firms engaged in shipping 

cargoes of ice to South America, Europe, Australia, and 

the Orient. Made possible by completion of the Charlestown 

Branch Railroad in 1838. Acquisition of line and wharfage 

rights by Fitchburg Railroad sparked additional port con- 

struction. 

Navy Yard in pre-Civil War decades one of the most 

complete and active naval complexes on the coast, including 

Dry Dock No. 1, designed and constructed under Loammi 

Baldwin 1827-33. Activities of Navy Yard encouraged 

adjacent machine shops. Hittinger, Cook 6 Co. one of the 


most prominent, who in 1835 were the first to design and 

manufacture portable hoisting engines. Thomas Cunningham 

opened his steam boiler works in the 1850s in a shop adjacent 

In 1855 lumber and ice led the list of products handled, 

followed by manufacturers of Morocco leather (12 firms, 

primarily at the neck along Main St.); tailors and bakeries; 

two manufacturers of pickles and preserves; five furniture 

firms; five curriers and one tannery (down from 4 ten years 

before). In this period Charles Davidson invented the rubber 

bulb syringe, the starting point for the Davidson Rubber 

Company. 

By 1865 two firms inaugurated in the 'SOs, lead and 

sugar factories, led the list of leading producers, followed 

closely by leather manufacturers, pickles and preserves, 

furniture and rum. 

Charlestownls own waterworks, using water from the Mystic 

Lakes, were completed in the 1860s, less than a decade before 

annexation by the City of Boston. 


Residential: Older neighborhoods around Town Hill 

achieved an urban appearance with many three-story brick 

sidehall row houses constructed while outlying areas re- 

mained more suburban in character with modest frame double 

houses being the most common house type. Freestanding 

Greek Revival single-family houses are less common although 

a few simple sidehall houses were built on Main Street and 

at least one highstyle temple front example is known (33 

Cordis Street, 1864). Early row houses, such as those on 

Harvard Street, are simply detailed with cast iron balconies 

at the piano nobile, while later, in the 1850s, the row 

house form was updated with bowfront bays. Still later, 

heavy Italianate detailing, including carved brownstone 

drip moldings, rope-molded door surrounds, stuccoed facades 

and bracketted cornices, was added to the basic sidehall 

form. A very few center entrance, cupolaed suburban villas 

were built and even fewer survive. For vernacular housing, 

the simple frame double house with double interior end 

chimneys predominated although a few linked parapet end 

chimney double houses were built. Very modest twin rear 

wall chimney cottages were built in back alleys. 

Institutional: Three churches of the period survive: 

St. John's Episcopal (Richard Bond, 1841), a heavy, granite- 

faced Gothic Revival design based on that of St. John the 

Evangelist, Bowdoin Street, Boston (Solomon Willard?, 

1831); the Winthrop Church (1849), a brick Gothic Revival 

structure; and St. Francis de Sales (P.C. Keeley, 1862), 

a well-detailed granite Gothic Revival building with a 

prominent steeple. Among those churches built in the 

period which have been demolished were two architect- 


IX. 

designed structures: the First Congregational Church 

(1833), remodelled in 1853 by Alexander Esty, and Trinity 

Methodist (1867, S.J.F. Thayer). Also constructed were 

the Warren Schoolhouse (1840), a three-story brick Greek 

Revival building, and several buildings at the Navy Yard, 

including the Greek Revival Officers1 Quarters and 1360 foot 

granite ropewalk (1834-36, Alexander Parris). 

LATE INDUSTRIAL PERIOD 


Steam and horse railroads in place from mid-19th 

century. Continued infilling of railroads along tideflats 

with Mystic Wharf Company spur (c.1875) along Mystic River 

from Sullivan Square. Streetcar routes converted to 

electricity (1890) with addition of elevated railroad from 

Boston to Sullivan Sq. over Main St. with stations at City 

and Thompson Sqs . (1901) (now demolished) . 


Population fluctuated even more radically in this 

period than in the former. Although substantial growth 

occurred in the periods 1870-75, '80-85, '90-95, and 1905- 

10, the intervening periods show markedly less growth and, 

in the periods 1900-05 and 1910-15, absolute population 

loss. Charlestownls peak population was reached in 1910 

at 41,444. The elevated rapid transit line attracted 

large numbers of working-class people (by the turn of 

the century Charlestown was 90 percent Irish) as well as 

discouraging many of the older families from remaining. 


Increasing shift to high urban density continues 

through late 19th century with row house and tenement 

development. Affluent neighborhood remains stable around 

Monument Sq. and High St., while Tompkins Sq. abandoned 

with elevated railroad in early 20th century. Multiple- 

family area greatly expanded along axis of Main and Bunker 

Hill Sts. to Sullivan Sq. with complete subdivision of 

remaining lots. Fringe activities completely encircle 

residential development of Bunker and Breeds Hills with 

complex of rail yards and warehouses on Mystic River and 

infilling of Millers River around State Prison. Similar 

expansion also evident at Navy Yard along Chelsea St. 

axis into Boston Harbor. Commercial and civic center ex- 

tended along Main St. from City to Tompkins Sqs. with 

fringe development on Warren St. 


Long-delayed opening of the Hoosac Tunnel in 1875 

connected the Fitchburg Railroad with the great western 

trunk roads. Previously just a local road, the Fitchburg 


was transformed into the port's major freight carrier. 

The line developed the old ice wharves, and the principal 

exports of the Charles River waterfront became livestock, 

provisions, grain, and apples. In the meantime, the 

Mystic waterfront, originally developed by the Boston 

and Lowell, was transferred to the Boston 6 Maine in 1887. 

These yards became the center of Boston's export timber 

trade and were the receiving point for great quantities 

of domestic and Cape Breton coal used and distributed by 

the railroad (Bunting, p. 62). 

Many of the established industries at the neck dis- 

solved in this period. Some new industrial construction 

beyond Sullivan Square and toward Cambridge Street. 

Heavy industries by this time moving from Charles River 

waterfront. Osgood and Hart Foundry, Hall's Refrigerator 

Works, Barrett Dye Works, Puritan Brewery, and, by the 

1890s, the Crosby Steam Gauge and Valve Co. all had moved 

into the area "without the neck." New construction also 

took place along Medford Street led by the Wemy Foundry, 

the Boston Bakery, the 1885 Howard Mfg. Co., and furniture 

factories. 

In 1873, capitalized at $500,000, the Charlestown Gas 

Co. was the largest manufacturer in the city. Thirteen 

years later its steam boilers were supplying power for 

ma king coal and water gas, and electric light simultaneously, as nowhere 

else in the state at ,that time (Hunnewell). Srew- 

ing on a large scale continued at the neck in Van Nostrand's 

Crystal Lake Brewery. 

Several years later, Sullivan Square witnessed the con- 

struction of the Boston Elevated's Charlestown line in 1901 

with yards and power facilities constructed 1901-07. 

Same years saw major expansion of Navy Yard, as yard more 

than doubled its area in buildings. 


Residential: A few highstyle brick Victorian Gothic, 

Panel Brick and Richardsonian Romanesque three and four- 

story row houses were built around Monument Square, but 

the most commonly built house type was the three-story 

frame sidehall Italianate single-family row house. 

Numbers of these modest buildings filled in sidestreets 

off Bunker Hill and Main Streets. Later in the period, 

brick and frame tenements began to be constructed along 

with a few apartment blocks, primarily in the Queen Anne 

and Colonial Revival styles. Three deckers are rare. 

Institutional: A number of important institutional 

buildings were built in the period including a new Beaux 

Arts classical municipal building (1914) replacing the 

Italianate city hall of 1870, the Harvard School (S.J.F. 


Thayer, 1871), a brick High Victorian Gothic structure, 

the neoclassical Charlestown High School, and 

Fire Station 32 (c. 1880), a brick Victorian Gothic 

structure with an onion-domed campanile. Also built 

were two churches, St. Mary's (P.C. Keeley, 1887) and St. 

Catherine's (1887), the first a massive Victorian Gothic 

granite building and the second a brick Romanesque design. 

Both churches have accompanying schools and rectories, 

those for St. Mary's being similarly heavily-scaled stone 

Victorian Gothic designs while St. Catherine's school and 

rectory are brick Victorian Gothic and Queen Anne struc- 

tures. A Stick Style chapel was added to St. John's (1873, 

Ware and Van Brunt). 

Commercial: Although a number of commercial structures 

were built at City Square and along Main Street, the two 

most imposing of these are the elaborate High Victorian 

Gothic Charlestown Savings Bank (1875) in Thompson Square 

and the yellow brick Renaissance Revival Roughan Hall 

(1914) in City Square. One structure which does not sur- 

vive is the mammoth Waverly House Hotel (c. 1875), a five- 

story brick Second Empire structure on the site of the 

Y.M.C.A. 

Industrial: A few corbelled brick industrial buildings, 

four and five stories tall, as well as several more utili- 

tarian warehouses, all dating from the late 19th-century, 

stand along Medford Street. Several well-preserved indus- 

trial structures, including the four-story Second Empire 

Whitternore Factory (c. 1870) and the Elevated Railway 

Power Station (1907), a brick Renaissance Revival structure, 

stand at Sullivan Square along with the less well-preserved 

but nonetheless significant round gasometer, one of only 

two surviving Boston examples. 

EARLY MODERN PERIOD 

- 


Railroad, elevated and trolley lines remain through 

mid-20th century (original segment of streetcar track 

survives on Chelsea Bridge ramp near Navy Yard). Local 

streets paved for autohighway improvements, although new 

routes constructed. 

B. Population 

But for the 5 years 1920-25, population declined 

throughout period, with some of the greatest losses in 

the war years 1915-20 (loss of 5,400) and 1925-30 period 

(6,300 loss). By 1935 population had reached 29,610 -- 

about what the city had contained at annexation 62 years 

earlier. 



Static growth of area with little residential expan- 

sion. Mystic brickyards converted to public housing area 

(1940) on Breeds Hill backslope, while status district 

around Monument Sq. declines with conversion of row houses 

to tenements. Fringe activities continue to expand on 

Mystic and Millers River surrounding Charlestown peninsula 

with development of Navy Yard, Revere Sugar and rail 

terminal facilities with important complex around Sullivan 

Sq. junction. Commercial growth remains along Main and 

Bunker Hill Sts. with civic focus at City Sq. 

Economic Base : 

Major Boston 6 Maine terminals in operation along 

Rutherford Street (fruit, vegetables, and dairy products) 

and Medford/Terminal Streets (wool storage, U.S. Gypsum). 

Continuation of expansion of Roland Street with new H.P. 

Hood plant there (ice cream) and along Rutherford St. 

(milk depot). Revere Sugar refinery (1918-1919) followed 

nine years later by Schrafft's modern confectionery plant 

(1927). 

E. - Architecture: 

Residential: With almost all available sites already 

deveioped, very few houses were constructed in the Early 

Modern period. What construction took place consists pri- 

marily of three and four-story brick apartment blocks on 

sites of demolished earlier structures. 

Institutional: Several large Beaux Arts and Colonial 

Revival brick schools were built in the 1920s but little 

other institutional construction took place. 

Commercial: A very few commercial structures were 

built,among them a neo-classical bank building at City 

Square as well as two or three simple concrete Moderne 

stores and a few one-story brick storefronts, along 

Bunker Hill and Main Streets. 

Industrial: The two major industrial complexes com- 

pleted in the period are the yellow brick, terra-cotta- 

trimmed Tudor Revival Schrafft's plant and the red brick 

Moderne Hood's Milk complex. 


Charlestown's existing survey contains no representative 

industrial buildings. 

The earliest extant -- from the 1870s or before -- include 

the truncated gasholder of the Charlestown Gas Co. (1850s?, 

head of Dorrance St.), the Davidson Rubber Co., a 4-story 

brick factory (1860s?, 14-16 Caldwell St.), and the small 


ick and frame Osgood 6 Hart iron foundry (3 Sherman 

St.). Several buildings of the Hoosac Dock 6 Tunnel Co. 

remain including the 1875 Hoosac Stores No. 3 at 25 Water 

Street, as well as Hoosac Stores No. 1 6 2 at 115 Water 

St. The Wemy Brothers Foundry (511 Medford St.) was en- 

larged in 1926 by S.M. Howes, a stove part manufacturer. 

The Charles Burbank varnish factory (Arlington 6 Alford 

Sts .) is an impressive 3-story mansard building probably 

built in 1875-85 period. Structures from the 1890s 

surviving include the Charlestown Sewage Pumping Station 

(1894, at Malden Bridge), possibly designed by city 

engineer Arthur Gray; the 3-story frame and brick milk 

can factory of Henry Wright 6 Son (50 Spice St.) and the 

adjacent brass foundry (Spice 6 Cambridge Sts.). The 

Puritan Brewery and Crosby Steam Gauge 6 Valve both built 

large works on Roland Street in the 1890s. The same 

period on Medford Street saw the construction of the U.S. 

Baking Company's Boston Bakery (465 Medford, enlarged in 

1924), and the 3-story brick factory of the Whittemore, 

Woodbury Co. (c. 1898, 416 Medford) , a manufacturer of 

shoe dressings. 

Two of Charlestown's most spectacular buildings from 

the early 20th century are the Boston Elevated power 

station (1901; 1907) and Schrafft's 1927 confectionery 

factory at Main and Alford Streets. The steam turbine 

room of the latter plant is believed to contain its 

original equipment. H.P. Hood 6 Sons built extensive 

plants in this period both on Roland Street (1917) and 

on Rutherford Avenue (1929), while Medford Street saw 

the construction of Revere's modern sugar refinery in 

1918-19. In the 1920s Wiggin Terminals built the large 

complex of brick warehouses on Medford and Terminal 

Streets. 

XI1 SOURCES 

Bartlett, Josiah, "A Historical Sketch of Charlestown, 

in the County of Middlesex ...," Massachusetts Histori- 

cal Society Collections, 2nd ser., 2 (1814), pp. 163-184. 

Bunting, William H., Portrait of a Port: Boston, 1852- 

1914 (Cambridge, 19 71). 

Frothingham, Richard, The History of Charlestown, Mass. 

Charlestown, 1845-49. 

Hunnewell. James Frothingham. A Century of Town Life: 

- - - - - - - - - , 

(Boston, 1888). 

Sawyer, Timothy Thompson, Old Charlestown: Historical, 

Biographical, Reminiscent (Boston, 1902). 


Wyman, Thomas Bellows, The Genealogies and Estates 

of Charlestown, in the County of Middlesex ..., 1629- 

1818 (2 vols., Boston, 1879). 

Mahlstedt, Thomas F., "Archaeological Monitoring: Bunker 

Hill Monument Stabilization, 1980," National Park Service 

Denver, Colorado, 1980. 



Date : December, 1980 Community: DorchesterIHyde Park 

I. TOPOGRAPHY 

Dorchester occupies approximately 9.7 square miles along 

Dorchester Bay and the lower Neponset River. Hyde Park in 1912 

added an additional 4.4 square miles. The Neponset, which 

forms Dorchester's southern boundary and which supplied 

virtually all the town's water power, was navigable for sloops 

up to its lower falls (Lower Mills). The town has an extensive 

shoreline along Dorchester Bay, up from which the ground rises 

gradually until near Dorchester Center, as for much of the 

interior, elevation is about 100 feet or less. This relatively 

level plain is interrupted frequently by about 15 drumlins of 

somewhat higher elevation, of which Wellington Hill in Mattapan 

is one of the highest (about 180 feet). 

Hyde Park is a valley town located on two parallel river valleys 

formed by Stony Brook and the Neponset River. The former rises 

just over the border in West Roxbury at Muddy Pond. After 

picking up the route of the 1834 Boston & Providence, the brook 

returns back into West Roxbury. The Neponset, as in Dorcester, 

supplied much of the town's waterpower, though it was augmented 

in 1639 by the excavation of Mother Brook, a power canal which 

introduced water from the Charles River about 3 miles distant, 

thus affording the "very singular circumstance" of a brook flowing 

out of one river into another (Harris, 163). This waterpower 

was responsible for building up Readville and East Dedham. Hyde 

Park is essentially made up of three topographical districts 

coinciding with their original political affiliations. Readville 

(originally "Dedham Low Plain") is a level, largely industrial 

area between the Neponset Meadows and Mother Brook; Fairmount, a 

prosperous residential section on the south side of the Neponset, 

formerly part of Milton, is dominated by the 250-foot high drumlin 

Brush Hill; while the area north of Mother Brook and the Neponset 

shares with West Roxbury the more rugged upland area of Clarendon 

Hills and the Stony Brook Reservation. 


Dorchester established as Massachusetts Bay Colony town (1630) 

with original Roxbury boundary established 1636-38 from Roxbury 

Brook (Brook Street) to Franklin Park (Old Road-Normandy Street) 

extended to Dedham line at Stony Brook (now obsured) and division 

with Milton at Neponset River (1662) . Dorchester Neck annexed to 

Boston (1804) with additional annex to Andrew Square (1855). 


Hyde Park formed as independent town (1868) from Dorchester, 

Dedham, and Milton at Readville. Remaining portion of 

Dorchester annexed to Boston (1870) with Hyde Park annexed 

(1912) with original boundaries intact. Dorchester originally 

within Suffolk County, included as part of Norfolk County 

(1794), and reincluded as Suffolk County with Boston annexation. 


Extensive residential and industrial area of southern Boston 

metropolitan complex. Located between Boston Harbor and Neponset 

River with documented native sites along Dorchester Bay 

peninsulas at Savin Hill and Commercial Point. Mattapan district 

of Neponset valley reported as important native settlement area 

with focus at Lower Mills, including Contact Period English 

trading activity. Formal town settlement on Dorchester Bay by 

1630 at Edward Everett Square with surviving mid-17th century 

burying ground at Uphams Corner, including elaborate period 

stones, two authentic First Period houses of English construction 

with suspected site on Savin Hill Avenue, and field division 

rangeways in Ashmont between Washington and Adams Streets. 

Primary economic focus developed along Neponset at Lower Mills 

and Mother Brook at Hyde Park. Economy remained agricultural 

through Colonial Period with shift of town center south to 

Meeting House Hill by late 17th century, and some 18th century 

houses at Neponset and Readville. Neponset River remained 

primary economic focus through early 19th century with surviving 

period mill villages at Hyde Park-Mattapan and Lower Mills linked 

to Boston by regional turnpike on Blue Hill and Dorchester 

Avenues. Meetinghouse Hill continued as civic center with 

Federal houses around common and secondary center at Codman 

Square with landmark period church. Increasing expansion of 

Boston development by mid-19th century with railroad corridors 

along Dorchester Bay and Mattapan and local transit service from 

Roxbury and South Boston to Bowdoin and Fields Corner. Related 

suburban districts developed around Everett Square-Uphams Corner 

highlands, Jones Hill, Savin Hill, Belleme Street and Fairmont- 

Hyde Park with representative Greek Revival and early Victorian 

houses including notable district on Mill Street near Fields 

Corner and early Picturesque subdivision on Mt. Bowdoin. 

Industrial fringe activities expanded along Dorchester Bay 

railroad corridor with surviving worker's districts and 

associated factories around Freeport Street and Port Norfolk. 

Similar development along Neponset axis with focus of activity 

at Readville including Industrial Period landscape of railroad 

bridges and related structures. Dramatic increase in urban 

density after late 19th century with expansion of electric 

trolley lines across Dorchester and development of three-decker 

housing from South Boston and Roxbury to Mattapan and Ashmont, 

including extensive districts of speculative rows around Fields 

Corner and Mt. Bowdoin along axis of Dorchester and Blue Hills Aves. 


Important commercial centers developed at Uphams and Fields 

Corrers with urban business blocks and civic structures , 

including landmark Late Victorian churches and schools and 

related brick apartments, with secondary center at Cleary Square 

in Hyde Park, while Meeting House Hill and Codman Square retain 

symbolic civic buildings of Historic Revival style. Affluent 

suburban commuter districts developed in Ashnont depots by early 

20th century with elaborate houses of Queen Anne and Colonial 

Revival design along Melville andAsbnont Avenues with early 

Cram Gothic church at Peabody Square. Extensive tract develop- 

ment continued through mid-20th century in Neponset-Mattapan 

along the axis of Gallivan B1vd.-Morton Street primarily as 

three-decker and two-family construction with modest brick 

suburban houses on Wellington Hill. A similar pattern emerged 

around Hyde Park-Mattapan along River Street, Cumrnins Highway 

and Hyde Park Avenue with intermediate institutional belt of 

cemeteries and hospitals between Clarendon Hills and Lower 

Mills. Commercial strip activities developed along Gallivan- 

Morrissey Blvds. around Neponset with early autohighway 

facilities, including original Howard Johnson's with comparable 

Early Modern shopping district on Blue Hill Avenue in Mattapan 

with period neon signs. The remaining areas of central 

Dorchester experienced limited growth with exception of status 

areas on Savin Hill and Bellevue-Columbia Road and fringe 

industrial landfill on Massachusetts Avenue to Fort Point 

Channel. At present much of central Dorchester is suffering 

greatly from syndrome of vacancy-abandonment-arson with influx 

of immigrant populations with consequential demolition and 

clearance removing much of historic fabric from Uphams Corner to 

Codman Square and Mattapan along Midland railroad axis. Along 

Dorchester Bay original suburban areas at Savin Hill. Mill 

Street and Port Norfolk are under increasing pressure of 

commercial development along Southeast Expressway, while 

Neponset and Lower Mills still retain authentic historic fabric 

by isolation. Both development and decay cycles are evident in 

Hyde Park, along Neponset railroad corridor threatening 

integrity of Cleary Square and Fairmont neighborhood. 



Important corridor of north-south routes between Shawmut 

peninsula and Neponset River along Massachusetts Bay. Primary 

route from Shawrnut Neck (Roxbury) appears to follow Dudley- 

Cottage Streets to junction of tidewater routes at Mward 

Everett Square with apparent trails to South Boston peninsula 

at Dorchester Street and Columbia Point as Crescent Street. 

Routes south to Neponset around Jones and Meeting House Hills 

apparently follow course of Hancock, Pleasant-Bowdoin Streets 

with primary axis along Hancock-Adams Streets to Neponset Ford 

at Unquety-Quiesett Falls (Lower Mills) with tidewater branches 

to Savin Hill as Savin Hill Avenue, Commercial Point as Freeport 

Street and Tenean Beach as Houghton-Neponset Streets. 


Documented trail from Mattapan Ford followed Norfolk Street 

to Codman Square with possible connections to primary N/S 

corridor along Washington-Bowdoin Streets with parallel N/S 

routes conjectured along Harvard Street and Columbia Road- 

Canterbury Street between Mt. Bowdoin and Neponset. Primary 

trail along Neponset River appears to follow River Street 

from Lower Mills to Hyde Park with branchessouth to Sprague 

Pond as Readville-Sprague Streets and Marsh Street to Neponset 

from Adams Street. 


One documented period site, a proto-historic burial from 

Savin Hill Park. Other period sites highly likely, especially 

on well drained terraces along Neponset River and adjacent to 

Dorchester Bay and its smaller coves. 


Varied terrain, from rocky uplands to estuary lowlands, 

made this an area of diverse resources. Most notable were 

seasonal fish runs in the Neponset, shellfish and other marine 

resources in the Neponset estuary and along the adjacent coast, 

and good agricultural land throughout most of the town. 

Accessibility along coast also made this a prime area for 

European-native trade. John Winthrop noted in his journal that 

late 16th century French coins were found while excavating for 

house foundations during the mid 1630's. 


An area of dense and important native occupation. Part of 

the core area of Massachusett -related people and the coastal 

terminus of the Neponset axis of seasonal movement (upland 

ponds in Sharon, Canton and Walpole were the other terminus). 

While this area was undoubtedly one of high site density, 

little apparently survives due to the present dense urban 

character. 

FIRST PERIOD 


Native trails improved as regional highways from meeting 

house center at Edward Everett Square. Primary highway from 

Roxbury followed Dudley-Cottage-Pleasant-Bowdoin-Adams Street 

to Neponset ford-bridge (1633) at Lower Mills (Winthrop Map 

1633) with temporary ferry from Neponset Avenue at Port 

Norfolk (1638) to Braintree. Alternate highway from Roxbury 

laid out as Washington Street (1655), probably on previous 

trail route. Likewise River Street along the Neponset to 

Dedham as existing native trail. Field division rangeways of 

mid-17th century apparently follow Centre, Ashmont and Minot 

Streets between Washington Street and Neponset Avenue. 



First settlement 1630 at Savin Hill by 140 passengers of 

the "Mary and John" from Devon, Dorset, and Somerset counties. 

Small native community at Lower Mills may have numbered 30-40; 

later moved to Punkapoag. By 1654, 140 dwelling houses; by 

1663 over 200. 


Initial English occupation reported during 1620s with 

individual fur traders along Neponset River, including suspected 

activities by David Thompson as early as 1619 (Clapp: 7-10, 

1859). Formal English town settlement by Massachusetts Bay 

Colony established as Dorchester (1630) with meeting house at 

Allens Plain (Pond-Pleasant Streets), on apparent nucleated 

plan, burying ground at base of Jon= Hill (1634) and fortified 

penisula estates on Savin Hill (1633). Early mill established 

at Lower Mills (1633) with tide mill at Commercial Point (Mill 

Street) during 1640s. Evidently much of Ashmont-Mattapan area 

granted as planting fields in Great Lots during mid-17th century 

with long lot field pattern preserved as street alignment on 

Washington and Adams Streets. Construction of Mother Brook to 

Neponset during 1630s apparently develops mill sites in Hyde 

Park-Readville. 


Savin Hill area initially chosen for abundant pasturage 

available on Great Neck (South Boston). Early grist mill 

established by Israel Stoughton (1633-34) at Lower Mills. By 

1635 William Wood described Dorchester as "the greatest town in 

New England; well-wooded and watered; very good arable grounds, 

and hay ground, faire corne-fields and pleasant gardens, with 

kitchen-gardens. In this plantation is a great many cattle, as 

kine, goats and swine. This plantation hath a reasonable Harbour 

for ships: here is no Alewife-river, which is a great incon- 

venience. The inhabitants of this town, were the first that set 

upon the trade of fishing in the bay, who received so much fruit 

of their labors, and they encouraged others to the same under- 

taking" (New England's Prospect). 

Mother Brook excavated 1639 to augment East Brook's 

waterpower. 


Residential: Three important First Period Dorchester houses 

survive: the Pierce House, the Blake House, and the Capen House, 

all dating c. 1650 (the Capen House was moved to Milton in 1911). 


The three houses are significant as illustrations of the 

convergence of East Anglian and West of England building 

traditions just after First Settlement; the Pierce House is 

particularly significant as an extremely rare unaltered First 

Period structure. 



Highways remained from mid-17th century with focus of routes 

around relocated town center on Meetinp$ouse Kill by late 18th 

century with Bowdoin, Adams and Hancock Streets as radial roads. 

Improvement of Neponset crossings with bridge at Mattapan (1733) 

and River Street over Mother Brook, while rebuilding of Lower 

Falls span (1765). 


Relatively little growth. By 1765, 204 houses and popuiation 

of approximately 1,360 included 245 families and 37 blacks. 


Relocation of meeting house from Allens Plain to Meeting 

House Hill (1679) shifts town center south to Bowdoin-Hancock 

Adams Streets focus by early 18th century. Development of 

Neponset mill sites Lower Mills and Hyde Park continued through 

Colonial period, with ship building apparently at Commercial 

Point andport Norfolk on Dorchester Bay. Remainder of area 

retains agricultural economy with farmsteads along 'Washington, 

Norfolk and Adams Streets. 


Tide mill constructed on Tenean Creek (Mill Street) but 

virtually all other milling along both sides of Neponset. First 

mill at Upper Falls (Mattapan) established 1709. Paper mill in 

Milton 1728 sparks paper industry in other Neponset and Charles 

River iocations included 1773 Clark paper mill in Hyde Park 

(River Street), said in 1930 to be the oldest paper mill in the 

country. Manufacture of chocolate, began in Milton 1765, 

initiated chocolate industry in region; begun in Dorchester Lower 

Mills, 1770, where, under name of Walter Baker Chocolate, 

manufacture continued until 1965. 

Extensive farming communities supplemented by fishing. 

Large quantities of bass, shad, and alewives taken. 


VII. 


Residential: Throughout the Colonial period, vernacular 

houses of modest character were the most common type constructed: 

highstyle houses were rare to nonexistent. Older houses were 

frequently updated or enlarged rather than replaced and half 

houses and cottages appear to have been common. Perhaps a half 

dozen Colonial houses stiil stand in Dorchester including 

exampies on Boston Avenue, Adams, Minot and Norfolk Streets; of 

~hese, most are center chimney, two-story structures probabiy 

dating around the mid-cencury. A few gambrel-roofed houses are 

known and at ieast one survives, on Waterlow Street. A possible 

early 18th century survival is a center-chimney cottage at 

64 Auckiand Street. One ambitious hip-roofed Georgian house 

stands on Meetinghouse Hiil. 

FEDEiiAL PERIOD 


Improvement of N/S cqrridor from Boston to Neponset during 

early 19th century with turnpikes along Dorchester and Blue 

Hill Avenues from South Boston and Roxbury, and improvement of 

Neponset Avenue with bridge to Quincy.Early omnibus routes from 

Boston to Meetinghouse Hill apparently followed Dorchester 

Street from South Boston. 


Relatively slow growth between 1790 (population 1,722) and 

1830 (4,074). 


Town center continued to develop at Meetinghouse Hill with 

reorientation of activities to Dorchester Avenue and secondary 

centers at Codman Square and Mt. Bowdoin by early 19th century. 

Industrial activities along Neponset expanded from mill sites 

at Lower Mills at Hyde Park with shipbuilding and wharfage 

facilities at Neponset-Port Norfolk and Commercial Point along 

Dorchester Bay. Agricultural economy continued in Ashmont- 

Mattapan area with market farms for Boston. 


Salt works erected 1802 at Preston's (now Commercial) Point 

by a Capt. Dean, and two years later by James and Edward Robinson, 

whose new method of running salt water over the face of inclined 

reflectors is described in Harris (pp. 165-66). Commercial 

Point business enlarged 1807 by Newel1 and Niles with wharves, 

stores, ships, but enterprise failed in 1813. Tinware factory 

began 1818 by Roswell Gleason; in later years received national 

recognition for britanniaware, brass fixtures and tinplates. 


Most of Dorchester's industrial activity, however, remained on 

the Neponset, where there were at least five sometimes conflicting 

mill privileges in Dorchester and Hyde Park. By 1805 Mark 

Hollingsworth had come from Delaware and joined Edmund Tileston 

commencing a partnership and a firm which became one of the major 

paper manufacturers of eastern Massachusetts. In 1811 the 

Dorchester Cotton and Iron Company established a mill for carding 

and spinning cotton; by 1832 it was employing 210 employees 

producing $120,000 worth of cotton goods annually. Another 

cotton mill built at Readville (then part of Dedham) by the 

Dedham Cotton Manufacturing Co., in 1814, producing $35,800 worth 

of shirting and sheeting annually, employing120 hands. 

Dorchester's other claim to fame during this period was the 

manufacture of playing cards, said to have been introduced as 

early as 1771 (Tercentenery, p. 32-33), a business that remained 

in operation as late as 1845. 


Residential: Far more houses survive from the Federal period 

than from the Colonial. Although somewhat more substantial 

through the more extensive use of brick, none of the houses 

surviving can be termed highstyle. Twin rear wall chimney houses 

and cottages are most common with examples on Crescent, Stoughton, 

Adams and Minot Streets; a twin chimney house with brick back 

wall survives on Freeport Street. Less common are hip-roofed 

end-chimney houses,although at least a few of these survive on 

Adams and Harvard Streets. Other isolated Federal houses are 

located on Neponset, Dorchester, and Washington Avenues and 

Gallivan Boulevard. 

Institutional: The Second Church of Dorchester was built 

in 1808 at Codman Square; a well-developed meetinghouse with a 

two-stage domed belfry, the church is the best example of high- 

style Federal architecture in Dorchester. No other institutional 

buildings of the period are known to survive in upper Dorchester 

(save the carriage barns of the First Parish Church at Meetinghouse 

Hill) but at least one schoolhouse (Butler School, 1804) may still 

stand at Hyde Park. 

Industrial: Although no industrial sites are known in Upper 

Dorcester, paper and cotton mills were established in the period 

at Readville and at Lower Mills. 




Turnpikes and highways remained from early 19th century with 

continued definition of N/S corridor from Neponset to Boston as 

steam railroad routes. Old Colony (1846) along Dorchester Bay 

(now MBTA Red Line) with branch to Mattapan-Milton (1847). 

Interior route of New York and New England (Midland Branch) 

through Mt. Bowdoin and Hyde Park (1855) with local commuter 

depots. Important regional rail junction formed at Readville 

during mid-19th century with original Boston & Providence route 

along Stony Brook (1835) and Dedham Branch (1845) with NY & NE 

mainline. Development of horse omnibus network to Dorchester 

from Boston with routes on Dorchester Avenue to Neponset and 

Dorchester to Meetinghouse and Mt . Bowdoin Hills by 1845, replaced 

with early horse railroad lines to Quincy, (Neponset Avenue) 

Codman Square (Washington Street-Bowdoin Street) and Meetinghouse 

Hill (Dudley Street) with Freeport Street branch by 1865. Bridge 

over Neponset at Granite Avenue (1837) for Quincy quarries. 


Moderate growth throughout this period, averaging between 180 

and 300 people per year in the period 1840-1870. By the latter 

year, the population had more than tripled the earlier figure, 

reaching 16,397 -- a number which included the new town of Hyde 

Park (pop. 4,136). Approximately 22 percent of the town residents 

in 1865 were foreign-born, about 70 percent of whom were Irish; 

18 percent were from British America and England, and 5 percent 

from Germany. 


Expansion of Boston suburban activities during mid-19th 

century along N/S railroad and transit lines. Civic center 

remained at Meetinghouse Hill with commercial activities around 

Uphams Corner-Edward Everett Square. Suburban status areas 

developed on Pleasant Street, Cottage Street, Savin Hill, with 

early picturesque subdivision on Mt. Bowdoin (1836). Industrial 

fringe activities expand along Old Colony railroad corridor 

around Dorchester Bay at Commercial Point and Port Norfolk with 

related worker's area on Freeport Street, status district on 

Mill Street and secondary commercial centers at Field Corner and 

Neponset. Similar growth is evident along Neponset River with 

expansion of mill site at Lower Mills with related workers 

housing, and Readville with mills and railroad shops. Hyde Park 

developed as commuter suburb around depot with picturesque 

subdivision on Mt. Pleasant (1857) and Fairmont (Milton) and town 

center at Cleary Square. 



State census reports indicate an increasingly diversified 

industrial base including in 1845 starch, chemical preparations, 

chronometers, cordage, and confectionary. The largest number of 

firms were engaged in furniture manufacture, which in 1855 

topped the list of manufactured products with 14 firms, 204 

employees, and goods worth $193.000. Tanneries (several located 

near the shore marshes), probably benefiting from proximity to 

Roxbury, numbered 11 in 1837, their peak year, though their 

number appears to have declined rapidly after 1845. For most of 

the period the Dorchester Cotton and Iron Company's cotton mill 

was the largest manufacturer in town, but the factory burned 

about 1855 and by 1865 the lead had been assumed by the Hyde Park 

Woolen Company's mill, which in that year employed 186 men and 

women and produced over $700,000 worth of blankets and flannels. 

The mill had been incorporated in 1862 and quickly took advantage 

of army war contracts. This mill, the cotton mill upstream of the 

Dedham Manufacturing Co., and the new Readville Car Shops of the 

Boston & Providence, were themselves largely responsible for 

Hyde Park's growth in this period and its creation as a separate 

town in 1868. 

The Putnam Nail Co. set up a rolling mill and forge about 

1850 at the head of the Neponset, and by 1865, with 100 men was 

producing iron products worth $235,000. Roswell Gleason, who in 

1849 had reputedly manufactured the first silverplate in the U.S., 

employed 40 men in 1865 and produced $60,000 worth of silverplate; 

eight other tinware establishments were also located in Dorchester. 

Chocolate and paper products were each represented by three 

Neponset factories. 

Despite this industrial activity, however, most of the 

Dorchester interior remained rural. In 1865 farming still produced 

one of the highest product values in the manufacturing census, 

while large quantities of milk and potatoes were sent to Boston. 

Dorchester's prolific orchards and fruit farms were renowned, 

especially for a wide variety of pears. The arrival of the Boston 

and Providence in Hyde Park in 1834, the Old Colony line along 

the Dorchester shore in 1845-46, and what later became the New 

York and New England through central Dorchester in 1855 made 

possible Dorchester's first suburban communities. 


Residential: During the early years of the period, neighbor- 

hoods in northern Dorchester began to develop with suburban 

cottages and houses in the Greek Revival and Italianate styles, 

while to the south similar houses were being built on remaining 

farms and in village centers. Most Greek Revival houses have 


sidehall plans and few highstyle examples were constructed although 

several substantial porticoed, center-entrance Greek Revivals 

were built in the Fields Corner section along Mill and Ashland 

Streets with at least one well-preserved FederalIGreek Revival 

mansion on Mill Street. Gothic Revival cottages and houses are 

rare except in the Port Norfolk and Savin Hill sections where a 

number of well-detailed examples survive. Later in the period, 

Italianate houses were constructed in numbers; most of these are 

modest sidehall single-family houses. More ambitious Italianates 

are square in plan with hip roofs and cupolas, asymmetrical 

towered examples being more rare. Brick and frame Greek Revival/ 

Italianate double houses were built along Bowdoin Street in the 

1850s, while toward the end of the period, mansard-roofed three- 

story brick Italianate rowhouses were built along Dudley, Bowdoin 

and Washington Streets with at least one unusual stuccoed example 

at Port Norfolk. A distinctive grouping of mid-century suburban 

Italianate and mansard houses stands in the Fairmount section of 

Hyde Park; also at Hyde Park is an apparently intact cluster of 

mid-century workers' double cottages on Marginal Street. Pre- 

tentious Queen Anne and Stick Style single family houses with 

elaborate wood and terracotta detailing were also built in 

Dorchester in the 1860s,especially around Upham's Corner, Savin 

Hill, west of Bowdoin Street and at Mount Bowdoin. 

Institutional: With the possible exception of some of the 

many brick Victorian Gothic and Romanesque churches built in 

Dorchester after 1860, no institutional buildings of the period 

are known to survive. The most notable example built was the 

Lyceum Hall, a porticoed Greek Revival building (c. 1840) which 

once stood adjacent to the Meetinghouse. 

IX. LATE INDUSTRIAL PERIOD 


Continued improvement of local transit service with suburban 

branch railroad to Ashmont by 1875 (now MBTA Red Line) and 

electrification of streetcar lines with trolley routes by 

early 20th century throughout Dorchester. Primary N/S lines 

from Boston along Dorchester Avenue, Washington Street, 

Neponset Avenue, Adams Street, Blue Hill Avenue, River Street, 

and Hyde Park Avenue from West Roxbury. Crosstown carlines 

opened on Massachusetts Avenue to South End, Geneva Avenue to 

Grove Hall, Talbot Avenue to Franklin Park and Cumins Highway 

to Roslindale, with boulevard route along Columbia Road from 

South Boston to Roxbury, and branch line on Norfolk Street 

from Codman Square. 


Dorchester grew rapidly in this period, at a rate closely 

tied to the developing streetcar network. Between 1870 and 

1890, though the rate varied, it averaged at about 800 people a 

year; with electrification of the streetcars after 1890, this 

rate jumped to over 2400 a year, with the greatest rise in the 

five years 1895-1900 (6300 per year). Although the foreign-born 

remained predominantly Irish, by 1910 there were sometimes 

substantial colonies of East European Jews (particularly after 

the 1908 Chelsea Fire) and Italians. 


Suburban development continued through late 19th century with 

rapid expansion of residential construction along trolley routes. 

Civic center is retained on Meetinghouse Hill, while primary 

commercial center developed at Uphams Corner with secondary 

focus at Fields Corner and commercial activity along Dorchester 

Avenue to Ashmont and Washington Street to Codman Square. 

Suburban status areas emerge around Dudley Street highlands 

(Hartford and Monadnock Streets), Columbia Road highlands 

(Bellevue Street), Jones Hill, Savin Hill and Pleasant Street. 

Affluent suburban commuter districts developed around Fields 

Corner (Melville Avenue), Ashmont (Ashmont Street, and on Mt. 

Bowdoin (Bowdoin St. )and Blue Hill Ave. (Bicknell St. Much of 

the intermediate area developed as high density three-decker 

district along primary streetcar lines with extensive subdivisions 

on Dorchester Ave., Washington St., Talbot, and Geneva Avenues and 

outlying ventures on Blue Hill Ave., Norfolk St., Neponset Ave., 

and Adams Street to Mattapan, Lower Mills and Neponset. Fringe 

activities expanded along railroad corridors with primary 

concentration on Dorchester Bay at Commercial Point-Freeport 

Street and Port Norfolk-Neponset. Likewise Neponset River axis 

continued as industrial corridor with expansion of Lower Mills 

site and railroad-mill site at Readville with related industrial 

facilities. Hyde Park maintained as modest suburban center 

around Cleary Square with axis of development along River Street 

and Hyde Park Avenue with similar growth around Mattapan center 

on Blue Hill Avenue and River Street. Much of remaining areas 

developed as fringe institutional use with belt of cemeteries, 

schools and hospitals between Ashmont, Mattapan and Lower Mills. 


Dorchester's --and Hyde Park's-- primary development in this 

period took place in real estate and buildings. The relatively 

few new industries that did emerge were built primarily along 

the line of the Old Colony Railroad, numbering among them 

machine shops, refrigerator, and lithographic establishments. 


One of ~orchester's greatest engineering works was the 

construction in the 1880s of the pumping station on Columbia 

Point and the 1-1/2 mile long sewerage tunnel beneath Dorchester 

Bay to Moon Island. 

Hyde Park, made an independent town in 1868, developed a 

reputation in the 1870s for machine works. That decade saw the 

establishment of the Brainard Milling Machine Co. (1871) , the 

Boston Blower Co. (1874), J. T. Robinson & Co. (1874, paper box 

machinery), and still later, of the B. F. Sturtevant Blower 

Works, relocated here from West Roxbury. On the flat railroad 

land in the southern part of the town were established rubber 

and chemical works. 


Residential: Residential construction continued to consist 

primarily of modest to ambitious single-family suburban houses 

in the Queen Anne, Colonial Revival and Shingle Styles until 

the end of the 1880s. A few neighborhoods, like those around 

Codman and Peabody Squares in Ashmont, remained highstyle in 

character through the end of the period with streets like 

Melville Avenue lined with elaborate and well-detailed single- 

family houses; more modest single and two-family houses were 

built across Dorchester. The most modest house type of the 

early part of the period was the mansard cottage, which was built 

in numbers along side streets, sometimes even appearing in 

rowhouse form. But after 1889, with the beginning of electrified 

streetcar service, the three-decker became the almost ubiquitous 

choice in multiple-family housing. By the end of the period, much 

of Dorchester had been covered over with three-deckers in Queen 

Anne, Colonial Revival, Shingle Style and Craftsman designs with 

both flat (South Boston derived) and hip or gabled (Roxbury derived) 

roofs. Although prototypically a vernacular house type, many 

highstyle, architect-designed three-deckers were constructed. 

Despite their numbers, however, three-deckers were not the only 

housing constructed: a number of two-family houses were put up, as 

were many four and five story brick apartment blocks. Romanesque, 

Renaissance and Georgian Revival blocks were built at village 

centers and along main roads with concentrations along Columbia 

Road. At least a few bungalows were built, including one 

particularly fine stuccoed example with a curved, leaded glass 

entrance on Melville Avenue. 


Institutional: Most of Dorchester's institutional 

structures date from the period. These consist of a large 

group of monumental Victorian Gothic and Romanesque Catholic 

churches in brick and stone with examples by noted architects. 

In addition, a number of other important churches were built, 

including All Saint's Ashmont (1891; the first of Ralph Adams 

Cram's many Gothic Revival church commissions), as well as 

several well-developed Shingle Style churches (Immanuel 

Baptist, Greenwood Methodist) and one outstanding Arts and 

Crafts design (Church of the Holy Spirit, Mattapan). The other 

major highstyle institutional group is the schools, of which 

several outstanding and many more modest examples survive. 

Only one High Victorian Gothic school, on Adams Street, is known 

but many Renaissance and Romanesque schools of the turn of the 

century remain. Also notable are several Fire Stations (#I8 

and Ashmont Station, Renaissance Revival) and municipal 

buildings and libraries at Codman Square, Upham's Corner and 

Hyde Park. 

Commercial: Four and five story commercial blocks were 

built at major village centers at Upham's Corner, Codman Square 

and Hyde Park. The earliest of these are Panel Brick and 

Romanesque Revival buildings at Upham's Corner; well-detailed 

Queen Anne and Tudor Revival examples stand at Mount Bowdoin 

and at Adams and Minot Streets. In addition, many modest 

cornerstore blocks were built at neighborhood centers. 

Industrial: Well-preserved industrial complexes survive at 

Lower Mills, Hyde Park, Readville and Port Norfolk. The most 

architecturally significant of these are the five and six story 

corbelled brick Romanesque revival and Second Empire mills at 

Lower Mills; also at Lower Mills are the reinforced concrete 

elevators of the Baker Chocolate Company. A similar corbelled 

brick factory of the same period stanchon Ericsson Road at Port 

Norfolk. More utiliarian and later industrial buildings are 

located along Hyde Park Avenue and River Streets. 

EARLY MODERN PERIOD 


Streetcar routes remain in operation through mid-20th 

century with temporary line across Neponset to Squantum Naval 

Base along Victory Blvd. (1918). (Extension of rapid transit 

subway on Old Colony-Ashmont rail line (1927) with trolley 

route on Mattapan branch, now MBTA Red Line and High Speed 

Milton route.) Auto highway improvements of the period include 

suburban arteries along Morton Street-Gallivan Blvd. (1924) 

from Neponset to Forest Hills (Rt. 203), Cummins Highway from 

Mattapan to Roslindale, and Blue Hill Avenue from Roxbury to 

Mattapan (Rt. 28). Metropolitan District Commission parkways 


constructed along Dorchester Bay as Borrissey Blvd. with original 

period drawbridge at Malibu Beach, and Neponset Pkwy. through 

Readville from Milton to Dedham with Turtle Pond Pkwy. through 

Stony Crook P.ese?rvaticn during 1930s. Extension of rapj-d transit 

subway on Old Colony-Ashmont rail line (1927) with trolley route on 

Mattapan branch (now MBTA Red Line and High Speed Milton route). 


Dorchester population continued to rise at a rate of 

between 2000 and 4000 people a year -- a rate that though it 

surpassed many other districts, was down from the peak years 

of 1895- 1915. In 1935 the population reached 197,257, somewhat 

over twice the figure thirty years previous. 

Hyde Park in the same period grew steadily, though its 

growth momentarily slowed during the war years 1915-20. As 

suburban expansion and the motor car made itself felt in the 

late '20s, the community witnessed an unprecedented boom, 

reaching 23,913 in 1930. 


Suburban growth limited by increasing urban density and 

lack of available subdivision areas. Primary activity by 

mid-20th century around Mattapan, Ashmont areas to Wellington 

and Pope's Hills with focus of development along Gallivan B1vd.- 

Morton Street and Cummins Highway as modest two and three 

family housing. Status suburban areas retained on Ashmont 

Street and Melville Avenue with limited growth on Savin Hill 

and Bellevue and Bicknell Streets on Columbia Road. Primary 

comercial center retained at Uphams Corner with urban 

business blocks and secondary center at Fields Corner, and 

local retail districts at Mt. Bowdoin, Codman Square, Adams 

Village, Neponset, Mattapan and along Blue Hill and Dorchester 

Avenue carlines. Commercial highway activity developed along 

Morrisey and Gallivan Blvds. with secondary strip along Hyde 

Park Avenue and Curnrnings Highway. Industrial fringe retained 

limited development along Dorchester Bay and Neponset corridor 

with centers at Readville, Lower Mills and Commercial Point. 

Hyde Park continued to expand as modest suburban district with 

development on Fairmont Highland and Clarendon Hill. Fringe 

institutional belt likewise expanded along American Legion 

Highway with state hospital facilities and cemeteries. 

Symbolic civic center maintained on Meetinghouse Hill with 

secondary centers at Codman Square and Fields Corner. 


Relatively few new industries apparent in this period. 

Shipbuilding returned to Dorchester when George Lawley, a 

builder of private yachts, moved his yard from South Boston 

into the old Putnam Nail Works at Port Norfolk. Other active 

industries include machinery, boilerworks, rubber products, 

insulated wire, glue, awnings, pianos (Hallet and Davis moved 

out of the South End to a Neponset River location), refrigera- 

tors, and cans. 



Residential: More restrained shingled three-deckers 

continued to be built but as settlement reached its out limits 

Craftsman and Colonial Revival two-family houses became common, 

especially at Hyde Park and along River and Harvard Streets. 

A few more pretentious brick-faced Tudor and Georgian Revival 

single-family houses were constructed in the same areas and 

atop Wellington Hill, but, in general, residential construction 

was limited to vernacular, multiple-family dwellings. 


XI. SOURCES 

Dorchester 

Dorchester Antiquarian & Historical Society, History of the 

Town of Dorchester, MA, Ebenezer Clapp, et al., eds. 

(Boston, 1859) . 

Dorchester, MA Tercentenary Committee, Dorchester Old and New, 

1630- 1930 (Dorchester, 1930) . 

Hamilton, Edward Pierce, A History of Milton (Milton, 1957). 

Harris, Thaddeus Mason, "Chronological and Topographical 

Account of Dorchester," Massachusetts Historical Society 

Collections 9 (1804), pp. 147-199. 

Krim, Arthur J., Three-Deckers of Dorchester: An Architectural 

Historical Survey (Boston, 1977) . 

Orcutt, William Dana, Good Old Dorchester: 

of the Town 1630-18?n (Cambridge, 190 

Toomy, John J., and Edward P.B. Rankin, History of South Boston 

(Boston, 1901) . 

Tucci, Douglas Shand, The Second Settlement 1875-1925: A 

Study in the Development of Victorian Dorchester (Boston, 

1974). 

Warner, Sam Bass, Jr., Streetcar Suburbs, the Process of 

Growth in Boston, 18 /0-1900 (Cambridge, 1962) . 

---------- The Discarded Suburbs: Roxbury and North Dorchester, 

1800-1550 (Boston, 1961) . 

Woods, Robert A. and Albert J. Kennedy, The Zone of Emergence 

(Cambridge, 1962) . 

Hyde Park 

Chamberiain, Edward G., Local Geography with a Topographical 

and Historical Sketch of Hyde Park, YA (Collected Norfolk 

County Gazette articles, n.p. , 1884). 

Hyde Park, PA., Memorial Sketch of Hyde Park, MA for the First 

Twenty Years of its Corporate Existence (Boston, 1888). 



Date: December, 1980 Community: East Boston 

I. TOPOGRAPHY 

The original Noddles Island upon which East Boston was built 

consisted of only 666 acres of upland and marsh, situated at 

the confluence of the Charles and Mystic rivers, "whose united 

currents," Sumner wrote, "separate it from the City of Boston 

by a distance of 113 of a mile." Chelsea Creek separates the 

island from Chelsea to the north, while the northern arm of 

Boston Harbor separates it from Winthrop. Before filling began 

in the 1830s, the island was made up of three hills -- Camp, 

Smith, and Eagle -- and two smaller islands, all united by 

marshland. Hog or Breed's Island (now Orient Heights), a 

large drumlin 150 feet in height located to the northeast, 

consists of another 785 acres. Extensive flats to the east of 

the island, subject to planning as early as the 1850s, were 

finally built upon by Logan Airport beginning in 1923. 


O.-iain?.lly claimed as part of William Brewerton grant (1628) with 

aquisition by Samuel Maverick (1633), Noddles Island (East 

Boston) and Hog Island (Orient Heights) included as Boston 

grant (1635-37) with later division from Chelsea (1739) along 

Belles Island River and Chelsea Creek. Incorporated as part 

of Boston city boundaries (1822) and subdivided by East Boston 

Company (1833). 


Insular urban industrial community on northern corridor of 

inner Boston region. Located on primary channel of Boston 

Harbor on tidal islands between Chelsea Creek and Winthrop Bay 

with suspected native site potential around original shoreline 

landfill. Early English trading station of Maverick settlement 

on Noddles Island (East Boston) with cattle grazing on Hog 

Island (Orient Heights) during mid 17th century. Continued 

use as estate farms during Colonial period with destruction of 

original houses during Revolution. Remained isolated through 

Federal period with harbor fortifications during early 19th 

century. Entire area acquired by East Boston Company for 

subdivision with Boston Ferry and Salem railroad connections 

during mid 19th century, including early Greek Revival brick 

rows, warehouse and hotel with cast -iron details around 

original town center at Maverick Square. Hill summits developed 

as status residential districts with urban row housing on 

Camp Hill and suburban double houses on Eagle Hill of early 

Victorian style. Industrial activity expanded along Boston 


Harbor waterfront with site of McKay clipper ship yards and 

Cunard terminal. Increasing urban density through later 19th 

century with multiple family row housing, on lower hill slopes 

and tideflats, including well-preserved examples of early threedeckers 

around Eagle Hill, many with elaborate Queen Anne 

details, and several original corner stores on Camp Hill with 

period features. Civic and commercial focus extended from 

Maverick to Central Squares along Meridan Street axis with 

industrial corridor along railroad to Orient Heights with 

early pauper's and Jewish cemeteries along Bennington Street. 

Fringe industrial activity continues around Chelsea Creek with 

several post-Chelsea Fire examples including concrete warehouse 

and truss bridges. Suburban development extends to 

summit of Orient Heights by mid-20th century with vernacular 

masonry houses along hill crest and affluent examples along 

Winthrop beachfront. Opening of Boston auto tunnel and airport 

maintains connections with central city with highway expansion 

along Route One axis, including ~arly Modern racetrack of 

national significance and original streetcar track at Suffolk 

Downs. Present developmental pressures are most evident 

around Logan Airport and Boston Harbor waterfront,which have 

been cleared for renewal and parking facilities. Residential 

fabric on upper hill slopes remains remarkably intact while 

Maverick Square retains much of its original urban scale 

resulting from continued isolated situation within Boston area. 



Insular situation with no documented trails. It is likely 

however, that some route connection existed between the tide- 

flats of Orient Heights and Camp Hill along the axis of 

Bennington Street. 


- 

No documented period sites. Possible period sites on 

Noddles Island but probably destroyed by intense urban 

development. 


An access point for marine resources in the Boston harbor, 

especially shellfish. 


Used seasonally by the adjacent coastal tribes; very 

little information available. 


FIRST SETTLEMENT PERIOD 


No evidence of island highways, although some route 

connection appears likely between Maverick's fort and mainland 

settlements across Chelsea Creek, perhaps along Bennington 

Street. 


Earliest settler, Samuel Maverick by 1630, though it is 

thought that he may have been preceddd by William Noddle for 

a short time. The island does not appear to have been settled 

by more than one or two families and dependents until nearly 

1830. 


Noddles Island apparently occupied as trading station by 

Samuel Maverick during 1630s with fortified house on Smiths 

Hill at head of Great Creek (Maverick Square area). Hog 

Island (Orient Heights) utilized as grazing pasture by 

mid 17th century with possible house sites around base of 

hill (Boardman-Saratoga Streets). 


Land used for grazing and some farming. 

COLONIAL PERIOD (1620-1675) 


Highway connecting estate farms on Noddles Island (East 

Boston) with upland farm on Hog Island (Orient Heights) 

indicated on Page Map (1775) with bridge across tidal creek 

and fordway to Chelsea (Revere) along axis of Chelsea- 

Bennington Streets. 

B. Povulation: 

No more than one or two families and dependents. Two 

"mansion houses" here before the Revolution, on Smith's Hill 

and Eagle Hill. Burned in 1775. 


Noddles Island continued as estate farms with primary 

focus around wharf between Smith and Camp Hills (Lewis Street- 

Maverick Square) and tide mill on back cove (Cottage-Grove 

Streets) Hog Island (Orient Heights) maintained as grazing 

area of Upland Farm through mid 18th century. All standing 

structures burned during Revolution on Noddles Island with 

fortified earthworks at Camp Hill (1776). 



Extensive grazing lands used by Boston residents because 

of close proximity to city. Salt hay harvested from Hog 

Island marsh by sloops from South shore. Milk sent to 

Boston's North End. 


Residential 

Before the Revolution, very few structures: two mansion 

houses along with some small tenant farmers' cottages are 

the only buildings recorded. All of these were burned by the 

American army just before the Battle of Bunker Hill to prevent 

their use by the British. 

VII. FEDERAL PERIOD 


Highway connecting Noddles and Hog Islands apparently 

remains intact from 18th century along axis of Chelsea- 

Bennington Streets. 


No more than one or two families and dependents. Number 

put at 18 in 1810, 24 in 1825. 


Estate farms rebuilt on Noddles Island at Camp and Smith 

Hills with wharf (Lewis Street) and tidemill (Grove Street) 

intact. Fort Strong constructed at east end of Camp Hill 

(Brophy Park) during War of 1812, apparently on site of 

Revolutionary fortifications. 


Continued grazing and farm lands. By 1790 tenant of farm 

supplying outbound ships with livestock of all kinds. 

Extensive farm included 80 head of cattle, geese, turkeys, 

ducks and fowls. Oyster beds also harvested. 

William Sumner's early efforts to bring development to 

island included active interest in U. S. Government in 

establishing Navy Yard here instead of at Charlestown. Site 

not chosen because of reporting error in inspector's report 

to Navy (Sumner). On Sumner's direction, island surveyed in 

1801 for possible Salem Turnpike route -- a route later 

chosen by monorail and Eastern Railroad. 



Residential 

In compensation for the burning of the houses there, the 

American army barracks were moved to East Boston from 

Cambridge; as far as is known this was the only dwelling on 

the Island from 1775 until 1833. 



Steam ferry established between Boston and East Boston 

Company wharf (1831) at Maverick Square. Subdivision of 

Noddles Island includes primary axis of Chelsea Street from 

ferry with bridge across Chelsea Creek (1834) and secondary 

axis along Meridan Street with bridge to Chelsea (1856). 

Early experimental steam monorail (1834) between Maverick 

and Central Squares along Meridan Street shortly abandoned. 

Mainline railroad connection to East Boston established for 

Eastern Railroad (1838) from Salem to Maverick Square along 

Chelsea Street with later connections across Chelsea Creek 

(1854). Bennington Street extended to Orient Heights (1838) 

with bridge across Belle Island Creek to Winthrop at Saratoga 

Street (c. 1855). Early street railroad established from 

Maverick Square to Eagle Hill along Meridan Street by 1860. 


In the 40 years 1830-70, the island's population rose from 

about 25 people to 23,816 -- slightly more than a third of its 

peak population in 1925. The greatest rise occurred in the 

period 1850-55 when East Boston's population rose by nearly 

6,000. During the 1850s and '60s large numbers of Irish 

immigrants,often as dockworkers or in the railroad yards. 

Much of the population was also attracted from other ship- 

building towns along the coast. 


Formation of East Boston Company (1833) in conjunction 

with steam ferry and railroad creates subdivision of entire 

Noddles Island as residential suburb of Boston. Quality 

housing areas were set on crest of Camp Hill around Belmont 

Square (Brophy Park) and on Eagle Hill around Public Garden 

(Saratoga-Lexington-Marion-Putnam site). Commercial-civic 

focus set around ferry wharf at Maverick Square (Chelsea 

Street) on fill of Great Creek from Smiths Hill, with 

secondary center on Meridan-Bennington Street at Central Sq. 


Industrial activity initially located along Boston Harbor 

tideflats (Marginal-Sumner Streets) with fringe use along 

Eastern Railroad corridor to Orient Heights, including 

pauper's cemetery on Bennington Street. Development through 

mid 19th century continued basic pattern of original plan 

with additional infilling of tenement lots along Chelsea 

Street tidemarsh from railroad terminal at Maverick Square 

(Great Creek site). Secondary center developed at base of 

Orient Heights along Bennington-Saratoga Streets with modest 

suburban subdivision on hill slope (Leyden Street). Public 

Garden abandoned on Eagle Hill with reservoir established on 

summit (High School site) by 1850. McKay clipper shipyard 

established on Border Street by 1845. 


Organization in 1833 of the East Boston Company by 

General William Sumner led to rapid development of the island 

after that date. "Perhaps no land development," wrote Robert 

Woods 80 years later, "was ever conducted more fairly than 

that under the high-minded leadership of the General" (p. 151). 

R. H. Eddy, engineer for the short-lived monorail, laid out 

the grounds for the Maverick Hotel and may also have been 

instrumental in the street layout. From the start,industries 

were located along the waterfront. The earliest manufacturing 

plant, East Boston Sugar Refinery, 1834, introduced English 

method of refining by John Brown, to scoffing of industry. 

Most manufacturing, however, located along Chelsea Creek 

waterfront while docks and shipyards located on shoreline 

facing Boston and Charlestown. Cunard line arrival in 1840 

gave additional commercial spur to island, while Grand Junction 

Railroad provided ready access from railroad docks to the rest 

of New England. 

To give further value to East Boston land, company 

authorized and participated in East Boston Timber Company in 

1833, which set up saw mills on Grand Island in Niagara River 

(New York). The lumber, brought to East Boston via the Erie 

Canal and NYC, attracted great numbers of workmen needing 

wood for their trade -- including the shipbuilding industry. 

The first square-rigged ship built in East Boston was the 

Niagara in 1835, built of lumber from the Niagara River. 

After the failure of the timber company in the Panic of 

1837-40, large quantities of lumber on the market at reduced 

rates probably gave the industry further impetus. One 

contemporary writer wrote that there was "no place in the 

United States or New Englandwhere there were so many requisites 

and provisions for shipbuilding" (Woods, p. 151). The most 

famous yard, that of Donald McKay, was begun in 1845 (now the 

site of the General Ship Corp.). Discovery of gold in 

California gave wonderful impetus to shipbuilding. Between 

1834 and 1858 over 200 vessels built, including the first iron 


steamphip, geur de la Mer in 1857. In 1854 J. E. 

Sim~son bui first timber drydock in the country. 

~ut~with the advent of the iron-hulled cargo ships, wooden 

shipbuilding, as early as the late 1850s, began a decline. 

McKay launched his last clipper in 1869 and the yard finally 

closed in 1875. 

Simultaneously with the peak of the clipper-ship period 

was developing the machine and boiler work firms, led by 

Otis Tufts,who in 1844 moved his boiler works to East Boston. 

In 1853 he incorporated the Boston Steam-Engine Co. The 

Atlantic Works were incorporated in that year, and the 

Cummingham Iron Works, the year previous. In 1843 Noah 

Sturtevant began a linseed oil factory, which by 1858 had 

become one of the largest producers in the country and one 

of the spurs to the developing oil business in East Boston 

and Chelsea. 


Residential 

In 1833, with the incorporation of the East Boston Company, 

streets and lots were laid out and the development of the 

area commenced. The first house built in East Boston was a 

double chimney Greek Revival house with a one-story veranda, 

but it seems apparent that Irish workers' shanties were also 

standing from the first year of settlement. Simple frame 

sidehall Greek Revival houses survive in modest numbers 

around Maverick Square and Camp Hill with isolated examples 

elsewhere in the town. One notable survival is a twin rear 

wall chimney Greek Revival house on Saratoga Street at Day 

Square. The only high-style Greek Revival structure standing 

is a well-preserved three-story building at Maverick Square 

with a flush-boarded facade, cast-iron balcony and low lantern; 

it is probably one of the earliest structures in the Square. 

Later, in the 1850s, three-story brick bowfront rowhouses 

began to be built in some numbers at Camp Hill, along Paris 

Street at Maverick Square and at Central Square. A very few 

center entrance Italianate villas with cupolas survive 

along with a few more Italianate double houses. At least some 

of the three-story wooden Italianate rowhouses in the city 

date from the 1860s, as do a number of tenements. Compara- 

tively few cottages were built. 

Institutional 

By 1854, 22 schools had been built in East Boston along 

with one brick church. Other church buildings built in the 

period include the First Congregational (1845), Methodist 

(1847), Episcopal (1851) and Roman Catholic (1858). Of all 

of these buildings, -only the last, the Gothic Revival 

Church of the Holy Redeemer, is known to survive. 


IX. 

Commercial 

Shortly after East Boston's incorporation, the four-story 

Maverick House hotel (1835) was built at Maverick Square; 

demolished in 1845, it was replaced, in 1858, by the five- 

story Italianate Sturtevant House, an elaborate wooden 

building sandpainted to look like brownstone. In addition 

to these notable wharf-related hotels, at least nine stores 

(six of them of brick) are also recorded; none of these are 

known to survive, although at least a few Greek Revival 

commercial blocks stand at Central and Maverick Squares. 

Industrial 

The only industrial structure known to survive from the 

Early Industrial period is a large brick Greek Revival ware- 

house at Maverick Square. 

LATE INDUSTRIAL PERIOD (1870 -1915 ) 


Continued expansion of steam and street railroads from 

East Boston wharves. Lynn and Revere narrow gauge (1875) 

across tide flats from Camp Hill to Orient Heights with 

tunnel under Camp Hill and branch to Winthrop across Belle 

Isle Creek (1888)(now MBTA Blue Line route in part) Streetcar 

routes extended along Bennington Street to Orient Heights 

and Revere with branch on Saratoga Street to Winthrop by 1875 

and local line to Camp Hill on Summer-Webster Streets and 

Eagle Hill on Lexington Street. Second ferry established to 

Boston to Lowes Wharf by late 19th century and third ferry 

from narrow gauge depot. In addition,East Boston subway 

tunnel constructed from Maverick Square (1901) for local 

streetcars to Boston. 

Population: 

Population continued to rise rapidly. Between 1885 and 

1915, East Boston's population doubled, though the makeup 

of the new population differed markedly from the previous 

period. As shipbuilding declined, skilled craftsmen left, 

replaced by immigrant Russian and Eastern European peoples. 

By 1905, the Jewish community said to be the largest in New 

England. Speculative and cheap housing abounded, with 

development begun on Breed's Hill in this period. Toward 

the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th, 

Italian population from the North End also on the rise. By 

1915 total population had reach 62,377. 



Development continued from mid-19th century with increased 

urban density. Civic and commercial focus remained at 

Maverick Square with secondary center at Central Square through 

late 19th century. Status residential neighborhoods remain 

on Camp and Eagle Hills with multiple family district on 

flatlands along Chelsea-Bennington Streets. Fringe activities 

nearly surround highlands with industrial use expanded along 

Bennington-Saratoga Streets to Winthrop and Revere. Wood 

Island designed as picturesque park (1890) with connecting 

boulevard along Neptune Road (now Logan Airport.) 

D. - Economic Base: 

During this period heavy industries and those related to 

rail movement replaced the wooden shipbuilding yards. The 

great Atlantic Works, devoted to the overhauling and repairing 

of vessels of every sort was the largest industry, with 

foundries, boiler-making and machine shops, shipwrights and 

outfitters, wood yards, dredging companies, and the handling 

of freight from ships and railways the ranking industries 

(Woods, p. 153). Warehouses were built on many of the 

harborside docks. Chemical and oil plants built along Chelsea 

Creek, woodworking firms and foundries located on Border 

Street. National Iron Bridge Works active near Border and 

Eagle Streets. Many of these firms in turn attracted 

increasing numbers of cheap, immigrant laborers. Dominating 

the East Boston waterfront, however, aside from the ship 

repair shops, were the docks and yards of the Boston and 

Albany Railroad -- just as Charlestown belonged to the Boston 

and Maine, and South Boston to the New Haven. 

In 1894,as part of the metropolitan sewerage system,the 

city constructed a large sewage pumping station near Chelsea 

Bridge, badly damaged 14 years later when the great Chelsea 

Fire swept across the bridge and among the East Boston tank 

farms. The first underwater tunnel in North America was 

constructed 1900-1904 by the City, to be operated by the 

Boston Elevated between Maverick Square and State Street. 

Among the first new industrial construction in East 

Boston was the erection of the Maverick Cotton Mills in 

1910 on Addison Street .This was followed by development of an 

area near Porter and Orleans Streets for loft buildings, and, 

in 1913-18, the General Electric Lamp Works. 



Residential 

In this period, most of East Boston was built up with 

three-story wooden stick style, Queen Anne and Colonial 

Revival rowhouses and three-deckers; two-family houses and 

two-deckers were also built, but single-family houses were 

only rarely constructed. Likewise, almost no brick 

construction took place. Among the neighborhoods which 

developed in the 1880s and '90s were those west of Putnam 

Street and those along Bennington Street toward Orient Heights. 

Although the long streets of multiple family housing seem at 

first to present a uniform facade, in fact, most of the 

houses retain much of their original, high quality wooden 

porch and cornice detail, making the survival of period 

Stick Style and Queen Anne trim at East Boston one of the 

most important collections in the Boston area. Also of 

comparatively great significance are the several houses with 

Eastlake trim, the Eastlake style being a style only rarely 

employed in Boston. Of the few single family houses 

constructed, most are modest mansard-roofed cottages. Toward 

the end of the period, three-story brick Romanesque and 

Georgian Revival apartment blocks began to be constructed, 

particularly at Maverick and Central Squares. Highstyle, 

ambitious houses are rare, but groups of well-detailed Second 

Empire and Queen Anne houses stand at Eagle Square and along 

White Street. 

Institutional 

Several wooden Queen Anne, High Victorian Gothic and 

Colonial Revival churches and chapels were constructed along 

with a number of highstyle Colonial Revival schools (c. 1910) 

in buff and yellow brick with a few earlier red brick 

Romanesque Revival schools(c~895) surviving. 

Commercial 

A few Queen Anne, Romanesque and Colonial Revival 

commercial blocks were built, particularly at Central Square. 

In addition, a number of Queen Anne cornerstores with flats 

above were built in neighborhoods across the city; many of 

these feature a distinctive angled entrance treatment at the 

corner. 

Industrial 

Many of the four and five-story brick factories along 

the wharves date from this period; most are utilitarian in 

design,although a few incorporate corbelled brick cornices. 


X. EARLY MODERN PERIOD(1915-1940) 


Railroads and streetcars continue through mid-20th 

century with conversion of narrow gauge to electric trolley 

and East Boston tunnel to subway cars. Surviving portion 

of streetcar track at Suffolk Downs Station (c. 1925). 

Auto highway improvement of Chelsea and Bennington Streets to 

Revere Beach parkways during the 1930s and opening of Sumner 

Tunnel to Boston (1937) from Maverick Square. Logan Airport 

location established on Maverick Street tideflats (1923) 

with gradual expansion by fill to Bird Island. Original 

hanger (Butler Aviation) and administration building remain 

from 1930s. 


By 1915 East Boston's population had reached 62,377; by 

1925 it had reached its peak of 64,069, and it remained over 

60,000 through 1935. Ethnically, by 1915 East Boston was 

already dominated by first and second generation Italian 

families, a group which continued to grow in size despite a 

declining overall population after 1925. 


Development potential achieved within original East 

Boston plan by mid-20th century. Civic and commercial center 

remained at Maverick and Central Squares along Meridan 

Street axis with secondary development along Chelsea-Benning- 

ton Streets corridor. Orient Heights expanded as affluent 

residential district along hill crest (Orient Avenue) and 

along Belle Island River (Baywater Avenue). Opening of 

Logan Airport and Sumner Tunnel creates additional fringe 

activity around base of Camp Hill with highway strip 

development along McClellan Highway, including Suffolk Downs 

racetrack. 

D. Economic Base 

Much of what new industrial activity occurred was 

located on made land -- such as the Mead-Morrison plant 

(hoist equipment) on Prescott Street or Maverick Mills where 

formerly was Orient Lake. Factories for shoes, candy, and 

electric light accessories were built on made land between 

Bremen Street and the railroad. One of the largest factories 

to be built in East Boston was the General Electric Lamp 

Works (1913; 1918) at 156-200 Porter Street. Along the 

waterfront, despite changing uses, much of the 19th century 

industrial fabric survived intact throughout the period. 



Residential 

The only areas which remained undeveloped after 1915 

were some neighborhoods along Bennington Street west of Day 

Street and most of Orient Heights. Modest Craftsman and 

Colonial Revival two-family houses were constructed along 

Bennington Street with similar construction on the lower 

slopes of Orient Heights. More ambitious and elaborate single 

family houses were built atop Orient Heights with many 

examples incorporating well-detailed brick facades and 

imaginative masonry trim. 

Institutional 

A great many large undistinguished brick schools in 

Elizabethan and Colonial Revival designs were constructed, of 

which the High School is the largest and most imposing. Also 

notable is a small well-preserved Tudor Revival utility 

structure at the Eagle Square Playground. 

Commercial 

Few Early Modern commercial structures are known, but 

at least one well-preserved gas station, on Chelsea Street, 

survives as does an intact movie theatre of the 1920s on 

Bennington Street. The most significant commercial structure 

constructed in the period is the grandstand at Suffolk Downs 

(1935, Mark Linenthal), a rare and well-developed example of 

the International Style in Boston. In addition, a few early 

structures at Logan Airport may date from the period. 


No surveying has been done in East Boston. 

Almost nothing survives of East Boston 19th-century ship- 

building industry, though two modern yards are in operation. 

One, the General Ship Corp. yard at 400 Border Street, 

occupies the site of Donald McKay's extensive yard. At 

least one large brick building at 36 New Street survives of 

the Atlantic Works. 

The Hodge Boiler Works (99 Sumner) and a brick brass foundry 

of the East Boston Machine Company (84 Condor) are noteworehy 

examples of the area's metalworking industry. Of a number 

of sawmills and woodworking shops along Border St., the Merriam 

Sawmill, a three-story brick mill from the 1890s at 145 

Border must have been a typical example. Other period 

structures include the Boston Elevated's East Boston 

Substation at Lexington Squre (1894, 1907)) and a quite 


striking granite and brick garage (1895, 265 Maverick Street) 

built by Benjamin M. Jones & Co., complete with an early gas 

pump in the door entry. Of NR quality is the MDC Sewage 

Pumping Station on Chelsea Creek, built in 1894 (and rebuilt 

in 1909) to designs of architect Arthur F. Gray. 

Early 20th-century buildings built on either side of Orleans 

Street include the six-story brick bubble-gum factory at 

Gove Street; a four-story steel-frame and concrete loft 

building (1912) at Porter; and the neo-classical GE Lamp 

Works (156-200 Porter Street, 1913; 1918), three stories in 

height and 590 feet in length. The Boston & Lockport Block 

Company, established on Condor Street,probably in the 1840s 

built a new factory and warehouse at 100-110 Condor between 

1907 and 1920, though the buildings are now in use by other 

concerns. 

The East Boston Tunnel, constructed 1900-1904, is reputedly 

the first underwater tunnel in North America,and may deserve 

NR designation. 

XIL. SOURCES 

Much of the most engaging and authoritative, despite the early 

date, is William H. Sumner's 1858 history. Sumner's own 

involvement in the island began as early as the end of the 

18th century, and he was actively involved in the affairs of 

the East Boston Land Company at least through 1858. 

Boston City Planning Board, East Boston, A Survey and a 

Comprehensive Plan (Boston, 1916). 

Boston Redevelopment Authority, East Boston: District Profile 

and Proposed 1978-80 Neighborhood Improvement Program 

(Boston, 1977). 

Boston 200 Corp., East Boston (Boston, 1976). 

Nichols, John S. C., The Rise and Growth of the East Boston 

Courts ... with a Forecast of the Social and Economical 

Conditions in the District in the Year 1980 

(East Boston, 1933). 

Sumner, William Hyslop, A History of East Boston (Boston, 1858). 





Date: January, 1981 Community : Roxbury/Wes t Roxbury 

I. TOPOGRAPHY 

When incorporated as a city in 1846, Roxbury occupied 

approximately 16.4 square miles reaching from the southwest 

shore of Back Bay (at sea level) to the Charles River at 

Dedham (about 80 feet elevation). Virtually all of the city, 

however, drains into Back Bay through three principal streams. 

Stony Brook drains the central portion of the city from its 

source near Turtle (originally Muddy) Pond, forms the 

principal transportation corridor, and initiated Roxbury 

Crossing's development as a mill village. Smelt Brook, which 

follows a secondary route traced by the Dedham Turnpike, 

emptied into Back Bay near the Neck and Roxbury Village. 

Muddy River forms much of the city 's western boundary with 

Brookline, running from Jamaica Pond through the Back Bay Fens 

Dorchester Brook forms part of the city's eastern boundary 

with Dorchester and emptied into the South Bay (now Fort Point 

Channel). 

Much of Roxbury is hilly upland country with substantial 

quantities of once arable land, especially in the broad plain 

east of Jamaica Pond and in the highlands to the southwest. 

From the Back Bay, the ground rises gradually to the southwest 

until in parts of West Roxbury it is over 200 feet in elevation. 

The topography is marked by a number of substantial drumlins : 

Parker Hill, Roxbury Hill, and Tommy's Rock form a prominent 

NW-SE ridge at the northeast, which marks the beginning of the 

highlands and at whose foot were located the initial settlements 

Further inlands, near the headwaters of Stony Brook, Bellevue 

Hill (370 feet) is the highest peak within the City of Boston. 

Much of the Boston area bedrock is due to one of Roxbury 's most 

celebrated geological features -- Paleozoic volcano centered 

approximately at what is now the intersection of Washington and 

Grove Streets. Roxbury Puddingstone is a conglomerate based on 

this volcanic material. 


Originally established as Massachusetts Bay Colony town (1630) 

extending from Boston Neck to Charles River (1633) . Boundary 

with Muddy River (Brookline) and Newton established (1635-41) 

with original Eight Mile Line intact as Brookline boundary. 


Division at Charles River with Dedham established (1638) 

and with Dorches ter (1636-38) intact as Dedham, although 

original Dorchester Eight Mile Line from Roxbury Brook to 

Franklin Park-Stony Brook Reservation now obscured. Sawmill 

Brook area of West Roxbury annexed from Newton (1838) and 

Dedham (1852) along Charles River. Roxbury formed as city 

(1846) with separation of West Roxbury as independent town 

(1851) including Jamaica Plain divided approximately along 

Boylston Street from Brookline to Dorchester. City of Roxbury 

annexed to Boston (1868) with West Roxbury town annexed 

(1874) within original boundaries. Annexation of Dorchester 

and Hyde Park to Boston obscure original Roxbury-Douches ter 

line. Roxbury originally in Suffolk County to 1794 included 

as part of Norfolk County until Boston annexation when 

reincluded in Suffolk County. 


Extensive residential and industrial area on primary southern 

axis of inner metropolitan Boston. Located between Back Bay 

and Charles River with reported native wier site on Stony 

Brook at Roxbury Crossing, cave site in Roxbury Highlands and 

suspected settlement areas around Jamaica Pond and along 

Charles River marshes in West Roxbury. Early English town 

settlement at Eliot Square by 1630 with original First Period 

burying ground at Eustis Street, including elaborate stones 

and surviving field division rangeways in Jamaica Plain and 

West Roxbury along axis of Centre-South Streets. Early 

industrial development along Stony Brook during mid-17th 

century with fringe activities on tideflats around Roxbury 

Neck (Washington Street). Limited agricultural potential 

during Colonial period with development of estate district 

around Jamaica Pond and foot of Roxbury Highlands including 

surviving Georgian mansions at Monument Square, Eliot Square 

and Eustis Street with 18th century houses along Weld and Baker 

Streets in West Roxbury. Increasing connections with Boston 

during early 19th century with Back Bay land fill from South 

End and early railroad corridor along Stony Brook to Forest 

Hills while civic focus is maintained at Eliot Square with 

landmark Federal church. Suburban development expands along 

major transit lines through Roxbury Highlands to Jamaica Plain 

during mid-19th century with early Greek and Gothic Revival 

houses of notable design and well preserved Picturesque 

landscape belt from Franklin Park and Forest Hills Cemetery to 

Arnold Arboretum and Jamaica Pond with later period structures 

at gateways and recreational areas of architectural quality. 


Industrial expansion continued along Stony Brook from Back 

Bay to Forest Hills railroad corridor with numerous 

manufacturing activities, including German brewi.ng district 

around base of Parker Hill with monumental brick breweries 

of Late Victorian design and related social club on Amory 

Street. Adjacent fringe areas developed as workers' district 

with early examples of tenement and three-decker housing. 

Affluent suburban development expanded in Roxbury ~ighlands 

with substantial houses of late 19th century styles, including 

notable Stick and Shingle Style examples and brick row housing 

interspersed along Blue Hill Avenue, Warren, Humbolt, Washington, 

and Centre Streets carlines. Primary commercial center 

developed at Washington-Dudley Sts. at foot of Roxbury Highlands 

with surviving business blocks, churches and schools of High 

Victorian design, with secondary focus on Centre Street in 

Jamaica Plain of similar quality. Expansion from South Boston 

and Back Bay is maintained through early 20th century with 

rapid transit elevated line on Washington Street including 

original period stations from Dudley to Forest Hills and 

related three-decker housing along local trolley routes to 

Roslindale and Clarendon Hills. West Roxbury similarily 

developed with modest single and two family houses along 

Washington and Centre Streets to Dedham line, with civic and 

commercial centres at West Roxbury and Roslindale Square 

including landmark Late Victorian churches. Industrial and 

institutional development continued from Boston landfill with 

warehouse district on Roxbury Canal-Harrison Avenue and major 

regional hospital-educational complex along Brookline- 

Huntington Avenues to Fenway, while West Roxbury was fringed 

by cemetery belt along Newton line and Stony Brook Reservation 

on Dedham line. Affluent suburban development extended around 

Jamaica Pond and onto Brookline highlands by mid-20th century 

with Historic Revival houses of brick and stucco design, while 

residential expansion is limited in Jamaica Plain and Roxbury 

Highlands by apartment construction along Seaver Street axis 

from Grove Hall to Egleston with similar pattern along South 

Huntington Avenue around Parker Hill. Commercial highway 

activities developed along auto parkways through West Roxbury 

to Charles River with local shopping districts along Centre 

and Washington Streets, including original Early Modern store- 

fronts, while residential expansion attains highlands of 

Bellevue and Monte Hills with period schools in Moderne style. 

Presently much of central Roxbury is undergoing cycle of decay 

and abandonment with extensive clearance and renewal at base of 

Roxbury Highlands along Stony Brook corridor to Forest Hills 

that has destroyed nearly all of historic fabric, while much 

of original suburban housing in highlands appears to have been 

stabilized by renovation extending to Jamaica Plain from Fenway 

area. In contrast, commercial development in West Roxbury 

along Route I is gradually destroying natural and historic 

landscape sites along Charles River at Brook Farm with similar 

threat from hospital expansion around Faulkner highlands and 

Parker Hill from Longwood Avenue. 



Transportation Routes: 

Regional corridor of routeways from Shawmut peninsula to 

Charles River with important junction at base of Roxbury 

Highlands (Dudley Station area) from interior to Shawmut neck 

at Washington-Eustis Streets. Primary E/W rouce around Back 

Bay appears to follow Dudley-Roxbury-Tremont Streets to 

Huntington Avenue and Muddy River ford (Brookline). Several 

routes likely follow through Roxbury Highlands to south along 

Stony Brook Valley with primary trail apparent as Centre-Amory- 

School-Forest Hills Streets with upland route over Warren- 

Walnut Streets through Franklin Park to Forest Hills. Alternate 

route to Jamaica Pond over Stony Brook likely as Roxbury-Parker- 

Heath-Day-Centre Streets across Jamaica Plain with alternate 

route over Stony Brook probable as Boylston Street and 

connections to Brookline Highlands at Perkins and Pond Streets. 

From Jamaica Plain several routes follow south to Charles 

River with primary trail apparently South-Centre Streets around 

Bussy and Peters Hills (Arnold Aboretum) with highland alternate 

as Centre-Walter Streets continuing south as axis of Centre 

Street to Charles River. Connections to Newton Highlands 

evidently follow Baker Street and Weld-Corey Streets with similar 

linkages to Neponset possible as Poplar and Bourne Streets along 

Scony Brook. Trail route from Dorchester tidelands evidently 

follows Canterbury Street to Stony Brook with Warren-Washington 

StreeLs likely as Shawmut-Neponset connector. In addition 

branch trails seem probable to iviuddy Pond and lithic sites in 

Stony Brook Reservation. 


No period sites known; several sites of unknownage reported 

in the vicinity of the Arboretum. Period sites likely in several 

portions of the town; however, around Jamaica Fond, along Muddy 

River and Stony Brook, and on drumlins or other well drained 

ground adjacent to Boston Harbor. 


A wide variety of food and other resources available, notably 

seasonal fish runs in Kuddy River and Jamaica Pond; access to 

shellfish and other estuarylcoastal food sources; good agricul- 

tural land available. Proximity to coast made this a likely 

area for period trade between natives and Europeans. 



An area with dense though probably seasonal occupation. 

Part of the northern edge of the Massachusetts core area 

centered along the Neponset and Fore Rivers. Though 

originally an area with high site density, most has probably 

been destroyed by intense urban development. 

FIRST PERIOD (1620-1675) 


Native trails improved as regional highways with focus of 

roads at Roxbury meeting house (Eliot Square). Major highway 

from Boston across neck followed Washington Street with radials 

to Dorchester as Dudley-Eustis Streets and Muddy River (Brookline) 

as Roxbury-Tremont Streets. Primary road south to Dedham across 

Stony Brook and Jamaica Plain followed Centre-South Streets to 

Forest Hills with alternates as Amory-School-Forest Hillsstreets 

and Walnut Street. From Jamaica Plain main highway followed 

South and Centre Streets to Charles River with Baker Street as 

connection to Newton. Highway to Braintree and Milton from 

meeting house improved as Warren Street during mid-17th century. 

Field division rangeways of period include Eliot, Burroughs and 

Pond Streets on Jamaica Plain and possibly Walk Hill and Beech 

Streets to Clarendon Hills. Highways to Roxbury Neck tidal 

landings include Hampden, and Cabot-Whi ttier Streets. 


First settled 1630, with meeting house constructed 1632. By 

1652, 120 houses in all of Roxbury, mostly in vicinity of Eliot 

Square. Small number of slaves in Roxbury by 1640. 


Roxbury town site established (1630) on hill above Boston 

Neck (John Eliot Square), apparently as nucleated village with 

meeting house (1632) on Roxbury Street and defense site on Fort 

Hill (Highland Park) . Early fringe activities along Boston 

Neck (Washington Street) with burying ground at Eustis Street 

(1633), clay beds and landing places at Cabot and Hamden Streets 

to either side of neck. Primary economic focus along Stony 

Brook with weir (1631) and mill (1633) at Roxbury-Tremont Street 

ford, and early house sites reported along School Street during 

1640s. Roxbury highlands limit agricultural potential with 

primary agricultural expansion along Centre and School Streets 

around Jamaica Plain and West Roxbury during mid-17th century, 

including surviving field division rangeways at Walk Hill and 

Beech Streets. 



Grist mill built 1633 on Stony Brook (Tremont & Roxbury 

Streets) by Durnrner. Fulling Mill by John Pierpont, 1658. 

Roxbury described 1633 as "a faire and handsome country 

towne. It is well wooded and watered, having a clear and fresh 

brook running through it; up which although there come no 

alewives, yet there is great store of smelts, and therefore it 

is called Smelt Brooke. A quarter of a mile to the north side 

of this towne is another river called Stony River upon which 

is built a watermilne. Up westward from the towne it is something 

rocky, whence it hathe the name Roxberry." (William Wood, - New 

England's Prospect) . 

VI. COLONIAL PERIOD (1675-1775) 


Highways remain from 17th century with main road south from 

Roxbury meeting house as Centre Street to Jamaica Plain and West 

Roxbury. Bridge connection over Charles River to Dedham during 

18th century likely as Spring Street. Magazine Street extended 

to Fort Point Channel fortifications during Revolution. 


Relatively slow population growth, almost all of which 

occurred at the northern end. By 1765 population had reached 

1,493, a figure which included 80 blacks. In the same census, 

212 houses were counted and the same number of families. 


Town center remained at meeting house (Eliot Square) with 

commercial activities at Boston junction of Washington-Dudley- 

Warren Streets. Milling activities along Stony Brook expanded 

with secondary sites at Boylston and Centre Streets (Roxbury 

Crossing) by early 18th century. Jamaica Plain developed as 

secondary settlement center during late 17th century along 

Centre Street axis with local school (1676), further expanded 

by mid-18th century as country estate district around Jamaica 

Pond with parish church and burying ground (1769) at Eliot Street. 

Similar settlement focus emerged at West Roxbury with burying 

ground and parish church on Centre Street by mid-18th century. 

Boston Neck (Washington Street) fortified during Revolution with 

batteries at Magazine Street. 



Much of the town was given over to farming, fertile lands 

from Mission Hill to West Roxbury supplying fruit and produce 

to Boston over the neck. Along the tide flats east of the cown 

landing, "salt pims" produced substantial quantities of salt. 

Roxbury 's initial role in tanning begun in this period. By 

1780, 18 tan-houses and slaughterhouses had been established, 

in addition to one chocolate mill, and two grist mills. By 

the end of the Colonial period, Roxbury had become a "great 

tannery for the country" (Drake, p. 51). Clockmaking begun 

here 1773 by Willards, foreshadowing later developments by 

Dennison and Howard. 


Residential: A number of important and unusual highstyle 

structures were built in the Colonial period, many of them the 

country estates of prominent Bostonians; these include the hip- 

roofed Georgian Shirley-Eustis House (17463, the only survivor, 

and Brinley Place, a unique H-plan, gambrel-roofed house (1723) 

noted for its lavish interior finish (site of Mission Church). 

Gambrel roofs were common and appear to have been a more 

pretentious alternative to the standard gable. Twin rear wall 

chimney houses were built in numbers, with at least a few 

houses possibly among the earliest examples of this type. 

Among the surviving Colonial period houses are the twin-chimney, 

gambrel-roofed Dillaway-Thomas House (l750), several end chimney 

cottages on Kenilworth Street and the hip-roofed Loring-Greenough 

House . 

FEDERAL PERIOD (1775-1830) 


Colonial roads remained from 18th century improving axis of 

N/S corridor from Roxbury center with Washing ton Street as Dedham 

Turnpike (1803) and alignment of Centre Street over Peaked Hi11 

and Blue Hill Avenue from Dudley Street. Connecting roads to 

Back Bay Mill Dam (1821) include Hemenway, Ruggles Streets and 

Brookline Avenue over Muddy River. Omnibus service to Roxbury 

center from Boston over Washington Street established by 1826. 


By 1790, 2,226 people in Roxbury. Relatively slow rise in 

population until about 1815 when town began to grow rapidly, 

reaching 5,247 by 1830 -- roughly at a rate of 110 people per 

annum . 



Civic center remained around Roxbury Street meeting house 

(Eliot Square) with commercial focus at junction of Dudley- 

Washington-Warren streets to Boston Neck. Industrial fringe 

continued to expand at base of highlands around Fort Point 

Channel with Roxbury Canal (1795) on Harrison Avenue and along 

Stony Brook with development into Back Bay flats with mill dam 

(1821) on Ruggles and Hemenway streets. Expansion of residen- 

tial growch along Washington Street turnpike with suburban 

estates on Roxbury Highlands and along Centre Street in Jamaica 

Plain around Jamaica Pond to Bussy and Green Hills. Secondary 

centers in West Roxbury on Centre Street and Roslindale on 

South Street by early 19th century. 


Much of Roxbury's industrial growth in this period associ- 

ated with construction of Roxbury Canal, 1795 along Lamb's Dam 

Creek, allowing sloops to roach new town landing at Eustis and 

Harrison streets, where there developed substantial establish- 

ments for packing provisions as well as a distillery and 

tannery. By 1810, Roxbury -- with 12 major tanhouses noted in 

the census that year -- had become the most important tanning 

town in the country. In the 1820s, spurred by the completion 

of the Mill Dam (much of whose enclosed pondage was in Roxbury), 

heavy industry began to move into Roxbury . Although the fabu- 

lous water power envisioned by the proprietors of the mill dam 

never materialized, several large firms built works on 

Gravelley Point. One of the first was the Boston Iron Company 

in 1822. Much of the industrial activity was located on the 

lowland either around Roxbury village, such as the lead works, 

or around the available waterpower at Pierpont's Village, where 

there were ropewalks, and, encouraged by fresh spring water, 

Roxbury's first brewery was established. However, Norfolk 

Laboratories and the Roxbury Chemical & Color Manafacturing 

built substantlal works along the Dedham Turnpike near Minton 

and Cornwall streets. The 210-foot high chimney erected by the 

latter company remained a landmark for many years iong after 

the che~nical works closed. 

Several cordage makers began operation -- including one on 

Gravelly Point and another -- Sewall and Day -- at a site they 

would continue to operate for most of the century off Huntington 

Avenue and Ruggles Street. John Doggett founded what would 

become the Roxbury Carpet Works on Roxbury Street. 

Boston's first water supply was constructed in 1795 by 

Jamaica Plain Aqueduct Co., which built a supply conduit with 

45 miles of wooden pipes from Jamaica Pond to Fort Hill. 



Residential: Surprisingly few Federal period houses and 

cottages survive, suggesting that comparatively few may have 

been built and that of those built, many have been lost to urban 

renewal. A few end-chimney cottages, a hip-roofed late Georgian 

house and some central-hall Federal houses stand near the Meet- 

inghouse while several somewhat more pretentious brick-end and 

twin rear-wall chimney Federal houses survive along Centre Street 

in Jamaica Plain. The highstyle Swan House (1796), with a severe 

neo-classical round center bay, once stood near Dudley Street on 

the Dorchester/Roxbury line. Dr. Morse stated of 

Roxbury's dwelling-houses: "Many of them are in the Gothic style 

with the gable end to the street, which custom the first settlers 

brought from Holland." While clearly Dr. Morse does not intend 

that Gothic style houses were built, it is interesting to note 

that many Roxbury houses were placed short end on the street in 

an urban form apparently seen to derive from Dutch precedent. 

Institutional: The present Eliot Meetinghouse, a gable- 

roofed structure with a pedimented portico and two-stage, octa- 

gonal steeple, was built in 1804. By 1790, five schools had been 

constructed; six more were added by 1829. In 1805, the first 

library was established. Not surviving is the Town House, a 

brick building with a domed cupola (1804). 

Commercial: Several taverns and at least one hotel (the 

brick Norfolk House; 1825) operated in Roxbury along with a 

bank (Norfolk Bank) which occupied the stone, Gothic "octagon 

hall" (1826); none are known extant. 

VIII. EARLY INDUSTRIAL PERIOD (1830-1870) 


Continued improvement of connections over Back Bay land fill 

from South End to Roxbury center with Tremont Street and Harrison 

Avenue. Boston and Providence railroad redefines N/S corridor 

over Back Bay and along Stony Brook through Forest Hills (1835) 

with branch to West Roxbury as Norfolk County railroad (1849) 

along axis of Centre Street through Roslindale. Expansion of 

omnibus transit service from Roxbury center with routes to 

Brookline on Tremont Street, Jamaica Plain on Centre Street and 

Grove Hall on Warren Street by 1845 and conversion to early horse 

railroad operation by 1865 with suburban line on Washington 

Street to Forest Hills and Roslindale. Hyde Park Avenue opened 

along Boston and Providence railroad corridor from Forest Hills 

by 1870. 


Population grew by nearly nine times during 40-year.period 

1830-70, reaching 43,439 in 1870. After 1840 the city grew on 

the average by 1,145 people a year. Almost all of the growth 

occurred in the northern, industrial one-fifth of the town. When 

West Roxbury (12.6 square miles) was split off from Roxbury in 

1851, West Roxbury had a population of 4,812 and a density of 382 

people/sq.mi. (By the end of the period these figures had not 

quite doubled.) By contrast, the city of Roxbury in 1851 had 3.8 

square miles and a population of 18,469 -- a density of 4,860 

people/sq. mi. These figures would also double by the end of the 

period. 

Of the immigrant families, the largest group were Irish, 

though a substantial number of Germans (1,644 in 1865) associated 

with the brewing industry, settled in Roxbury, particularly at 

the base of Mission Hill. 


Substantial growth of affluent residential development from 

South End Boston into Roxbury Highlands during mid- 19 th century 

along Washington, Warren and Centre streets transit lines. Com- 

mercial focus expanded around Dudley-Washington-Roxbury streets 

with civic center remaining at Eliot Square. Industrial fringe 

continued to develop along Stony Brook valley witk bres~cries at 

Roxbury Crossing (Centre-Heath Streets) and smali rcanufac~uring on 

Back Bay flats (Ruggles/Hemenway Streets), Likewise, warehouse dis- 

trict expanded around Roxbury Canal (Harrison Ave) at Fort Point 

Channel to South End. Secondary center along Center St in 

Jamaica Plain with affluent suburban development on highlands 

around Green St depot and to Eliot St near Jamaica Pond. Second- 

ary suburban growth extended along commuter rail lines to Roslin- 

dale and West Roxbury with industrial fringe along Charles River. 

Agricultural activity continued around Sawmill Brook (Baker St) 

at Newton line with experimental Brook Farm community. 


The extension of Tremont Street to Pierpont Village (1832), 

followed three years later by the arrival of the railroad at what 

then became Roxbury Crossing, were key to the developing indus- 

trial base here, and by 1845 the city was displaying an impres- 

sive industrial diversification and strength, in many cases based 

on the city's earlier lead in leather, machine and chemical works, 

and cordage. This intensifying industrialization was directly 

responsible for the incorporation of the City of Roxbury in 1848 

and its dramatic sundering three years later by the separation 

of s till-agrarian West Roxbury . 


In 1832, six tanneries were, with one exception, the largest 

industry, producing $132,000 worth of leather annually; by 1855, 

though currying was still an active trade, there was only one 

tanyard left. In 1845 the leading manufacture was cordage with 

four ropewalks supplying $370,000 worth of rope annually. The 

largest employer in that year were the rolling, slitting, and 

nail mills, with 240 hands. Roxbury's heavy industries were 

established in this period, including stove and iron foundries. 

The Hunneman Machine Shop produced nationally known fire engines, 

and Stephen Ruggles, a prolific inventor, patented and manufac- 

tured a wide variety of printing presses. The Roxbury India 

Rubber Co., founded in 1832 by Haskins and Chafee, provided the 

corporate base for Charles Goodyear's discovery of vulcanization 

(in association with Nathaniel Heywood) in 1838. The large 

Boston Belting plant also dated from this period. William L. 

Bradley, a pioneer in commercial fertilizers, built his American 

Agricultural Chemical Co. plant here in 1869, while the avail- 

able nitrates made possible two fireworks factories. 

Edward Howard and Aaron Dennison established the Boston 

Watch Co. here 1850-54 producing the first mass-produced watches. 

To escape city dust they moved to Waltham, though Howard later 

returned to the original plant which he built up as the nation- 

ally known Howard Clock Co. 

The breweries developed slowly: in 1845 there were 2; in 1855, 

3; but by the close of the Civil War in 1865, there were 8 -- 

primarily located in a band along Stony Brook from Roxbury Cross- 

ing to Forest Hills. 

At mid-century there were also three starch and five soap-and- 

tallow manufacturies. Louis Prang, responsible for the first 

introduction of chromolithographs into the U.S., built a three- 

story factory at this time, said then to be Roxbury's largest mill. 

With incorporation into the City of Boston, Roxbury joined the 

Cochituate Water system, and in 1869 the city constructed a high- 

service standpipe in Highland Park,a monument to the late 19th 

century suburban develbpment of Roxbury Kighlands. 


Residential: Roxbury retains a wide range of well-preserved 

mid-19th-century houses and cottages built as part of the first 

wave of suburban growth. Particularly notable clusters of well- 

developed, highstyle residences stand at Roxbury Highlands and in 

Jamaica Plain. Buoyed by industrial prosperity and intellectual 

leadership, Roxbury residents quickly assimilated the full panoply 

of picturesque styles; thus, no one style or building type predom- 

inates in the period. A half dozen or so highstyle Greek Revival 

houses with monitor roofs and/or full porticoed temple fronts were 

built at Roxbury Highlands and Jamaica Plain. Several examples 

of the more unusual wide-pilastered Regency Greek Revival style 

survive on Cedar and St. James Streets and on Greenough Avenue. 


Suburban sidehall Greek Revivals were built in the Highlands, and 

in Jamaica Plain, along Lamartine and Centre Streets along with 

equal numbers of bracketed Greek RevivalIItalianate houses. On 

Montrose Street stands the finest and best-preserved grouping of 

board and batten Gothic Revival cottages in the Boston area while 

notable individual examples of highstyle, towered asymmetrical 

and cupola-ed four-square Italianate villas exist in outlying 

areas. A limited number of brick bowfront rowhouses and linked 

parapet chimney Greek Revival double houses were built in older, 

urbanized sections while along hory Street are located a number 

of early Italianate three-story tenement blocks. Also compara- 

tively early was the adoption of the mansard roof: most commonly 

it was employed for the many elaborate brick (and even marble- 

faced) brownstone- trimmed rowhouses which began to go up in the 

1860s and for the modest workers' cottages built along Stony Brook. 

Institutional: Most of Roxbury's period institutional build- 

inns are churches of red brick: the famous Roxbury puddingstone, 

used in neighboring Brookline as early as 1851, was-not exten- 

sively exploited in Roxbury until after 1870. The churches, 

dating from the 1850s, include several Romanesque and at least 

one Gothic Revival design with either offset or center towers. 

The earliest stone Gothic Revival design is the granite Unitarian 

Church (1854, N.J. Bradlee) in Jamaica Plain. Also established 

in the period was Forest Hills Cemetery (1846) with an outstand- 

ing Gothic Revival gate and gatehouse (1865) replacing an earlier 

Egyptian Revival example (1846, H.A.S. Dearborn). 

Commercial: The finest extant commercial blocks of the period 

stand at Dudley Station and include several four and five story 

brick High Victorian Gothic structures along with at least one 

marble-faced five-story Second Empire Italianate block and another 

three-story Renaissance Revival structure faced with light sand- 

stone, an early and particularly well-detailed exemplar of that 

style. Other more modest High Victorian Gothic and Italianate 

brick commercial blocks stand at Eliot Square. 

Industrial: At least a few simply-detailed brick industrial 

buildings oi the late 1860s survive along Stony Brook, but the 

most notable industrial structure of the period is the Cochituate 

Standpipe at Highland Park (Standish and Woodbury, 1869) . 



Continued expansion of transit service as electric trolley 

lines from Boston. Newly constructed routes over Back Bay land 

fill on Huntington and Columbus Aves with extensions on S. Hun- 

tington Ave to Jamaica Plain (now MBTA Arborway) and Columbus Ave 

over Stony Brook fill to Egleston Sq. Routes to Franklin Park 

from Roxbury center include Dudley-Blue Hill Ave, Walnut-Humboldt 

Ave and Seaver St. Suburban service extended from Forest Hills- 


Roslindale with lines on Hyde Park Ave to Hyde Park, Belgrade- 

Centre Sts to West Roxbury with Dedham connections on Spring 

and Grove Sts and cross town route on Curnmins Hwy to Mattapan. 

In addition rapid transit elevated constructed on Washington St 

to Dudley (1901) and Forest Hills (1909) with original stations 

intact at Dudley, Egleston, Green St and Forest Hills. Boston 

and Providence mainline regraded during late 19th century with 

original masonry bridges intact at Arborway and truss spans at 

Clarendon Hills. 

Population: 

As street cars and utilities were extended into West Roxbury, 

the city witnessed its greatest growth, rising at times -- in the 

years 1870-75, 1885-90, 1910-15 -- by nearly 4,000 people a year. 

A good part of this growth was now in West Roxbury, though by 

1915 that district still accounted for less than half of Roxbury 

proper's population. By 1915, the population of both parts 

amounted to 183,754, though the two parts differed in density now 

only by a factor of eight. (In 1870, it had been by a factor of 

112 \ 

Roxbury's initial ethnic makeup in the preceeding period, as 

in this, had been largely Irish-Catholic, and in neighborhoods 

like Mission Hill, there were solid homogeneous Irish-Catholic 

communities. With the advancing streetcar service, Roslindale 

and West Roxbury too began to develop as working-class suburbs 

with a large Irish component. But by the early 20th century, and 

particularly after the Chelsea Fire of 1908, substantial numbers 

of Jewish families began moving into southern and more suburban 

portions of West Roxbury and Roxbury, gradually displacing the 

Irish. 


Increasing density of urban residential development from 

Boston along major transit lines of Washington, Centre, Dudley 

and Warren Sts. Roxbury Highlands retained as affluent suburban 

area with complex overlay of urban housing types with rowblocks 

during late 19th century and apartments during early 20th cen- 

tury on Warren and Humbolt Sts, Blue Hill and Columbus Aves 

tro 1 ley routes . Industrial fringes expanded along Stony Brook valley 

around Roxbury Crossing with worker's district around railroad 

corridor (Lamartine and Amory Sts) to Parker Hill (Tremont and 

Heath Sts). Back Bay flats exhibit similar pattern with overlay 

of central city institutions from Boston along Huntington and 

Brookline Aves by early 20th century. Likewise Roxbury Canal 

warehouse district on Harrison Ave expanded to base of Dudley St 

with worker's district along Norfolk St. Civic center remained 

at Eliot Sq with primary commercial focus at Dudley-Washington 

Sts elevated station and secondary centers at Dudley-Blue Hill 

Ave and Roxbury Crossing. Affluent suburban development 


continued around Jamaica Pond and Jamaica Plain highlands with 

overlay of increasing urban density along Centre-South Sts car- 

lines to Forest Hills. Extensive recreational park system 

developed as fringe belt around Forest Hills during late 19th 

century with Franklin Park (1889) Forest Hills-Mt Hope ceme- 

teries and Arnold Arboretum with focus of activity at Zoological 

Garden on Blue Hill Ave. Extensive suburban expansion continued 

from Forest Hills into Roslindale and West Roxbury along Centre, 

Washington and Hyde Park Ave primarily with multiple family 

housing and modest suburban neighborhoods on Mt Hope and 

Clarendon Hills. Commercial centers developed at Roslindale Sq 

and West Roxbury along Centre St with cemetery fringe belt on 

Newton line at Baker and Corey Sts. Much of southern West Rox- 

bury deeded as Stony Brook Reservation around Muddy and Turtle 

Ponds by early 20th century. 


By 1870 Roxbury's industrial development was still primarily 

in the lowlands. One area, formerly along South Bay, was essen- 

tially a continuation of the South End industrial district along 

Albany and Harrison avenues, close to harbor docking facilities. 

The other area lay along Stony Brook and the mud flats north of 

Tremont Street, which by the end of this period would be virtu- 

ally entirely filled in. 

The Late Industrial period saw the peak of the brewing indus- 

try. In 1890 there were 14 large breweries in Roxbury, and it is 

said that the first lager beer in the U.S. was produced here. 

Ten major foundries and at least five large ropewalks continued 

to operate, while organ and piano-making spilled over from the 

South End. 

Individual factories produced an increasingly diversified 

range of products. Many, like the nail works of the Globe and 

Putnam firms, Boston Car Spring, James Cracker factory, New 

England Card, Sturtevant blower, and the pickle and vinegar works 

of Louis and Frederick had statewide if not national reputations. 

Toward the end of the period, several shoe manufacturers moved 

to Roxbury from Lynn in search of cheap labor. Largest of these 

was the Plant Shoe Factory on Bickford Street. 


Residential: Multiple-family dwellings were built with in- 

creasing frequency as population density increased although quite 

a number of well-detailed single-family houses continued to be 

built around Franklin Park with more elaborate highstyle single 

family houses at Jamaica Pond. More distant sections to the 

south began to develop, at first with modest single family workers' 

houses and three-deckers after the turn of the century. Ambitious 


Victorian Gothic and Stick Style housescontinued to be built 

in the Highlands in the 1870s and '80s while in the '90s high 

quality Queen Anne and Colonial Revival houses were built above 

Frankin Park (Walnut, Townsend Streets). In Jamaica Plain, the 

Sumner Hill neighborhood retains an impressive grouping of 

architect-designed Stick, Second Empire, Queen Anne and Shingle 

Style suburban houses while directly along the Pond highstyle 

Colonial Revival houses were constructed. High quality multiple 

family dwellings began to be built in the 1880s and '90s with a 

number of well-constructed Queen Anne and Colonial Revival three- 

deckers of sophisticated design and detailing constructed along 

Warren Street. At least a few three and four story Panel Brick 

residential hotels were also constructed in the Highlands. 

Later in the period, more modest Colonial Revival and Craftsman 

three-deckers and two-families became the norm, filling large 

tracts of land to the south in the Forest Hills and Mount Hope 

sections. Not until the end of the period, c. 1910, did numbers 

of brick apartment blocks begin to be built: notable examples 

are a group of Georgian and Renaissance Revival blocks on Warren 

Avenue and a Richardsonian Romanesque complex of Centre Street 

in Jamaica Plain. 

Institutional: The number and quality of institutional 

buildings of the period reflect Roxbury's continuing prosperity 

and increasing density. Many buildings are built of Roxbury 

puddingstone, the rich, brown conglomerate which began to be 

exploited during the period and which "impart(ed) an air of 

antiquity to the newest structure." The availability of the 

stone encouraged Gothic Revival designs, particularly for 

churches, of which many fine examples survive, including the 

Presbyterian and Walnut Avenue churches (c. 1890), both asymmetrical 

in plan with offset towers. Also built were Shingle 

Style (Elm Hill Baptist, c. 1885) and Craftsman (All Soul's 

Unitarian, 1889) churches. Schools of the period are less 

varied, those of the '90s and early 20th century being massive, 

square brick Renaissance Revival buildings with pyramidal roofs 

while those of the later period are more rectilinear in massing 

with Georgian and Colonial Revival detailing. One notable 

exception is the Richardsonian R~esque R o & ~ High School. 

Also built during the period were a number of municipal 

buildings, among them High Victorian Gothic and Romanesque 

Police and Fire Stations in Jamaica Plain and Hyde Park and the 

neo-classical Hyde Park Municipal Building. 

Also constructed were several hospitals, housed in monumental 

temple-front neo-classical buildings (Peter Bent and Robert 

Bringham, c. 1910). Although little survives of the original 

park buildings, the entrance and gates to Franklin Park (salvaged 

from interior of Boston Custom House; 1837, A. B. Young) form 

a well-preserved public landscape. 


Commercial: Commercial buildings of considerable pretention 

continued to be built at Dudley Street: some are as tall as 

six stories, indicating some degree of urban maturity. Most are 

Renaissance Revival, brick structures with cast metal trim. A 

few cast iron storefronts survive from the early 1870s (and 

earlier). In outlying commercial centers in Jamaica Plain and 

Roslindale, at least a few imposing Romanesque or Renaissance 

Revival brick commercial blocks were built, althoughly only to 

a height of three or four stories. 

Industrial: Industrial buildings of great decorative 

sophistication were built at the base of Parker Hill along the 

Stony Brook corridor: of these, the breweries are the most 

notable. Massive three and four story brick structures with 

elaborate massing and extensive terracotta detailing, the three 

or four extant complexes are among the few industrial buildings 

to survive urban and transportation route renewal. Other more 

humble Panel Brick warehouses of the 1880s and '90s still stand 

around Eustis Street to the north. 



Streetcar transit service continued through mid-20th century 

with portions of original routes intact as Arborway Green Line 

to Forest Hills (Huntington-Centre-South Streets). Metropolitan 

District Commission auto parkways extended from Franklin Park 

to Stony Brook Reservation and Charles River as Morton Street 

(Route 203) and American Legion Highway with original Art Deco 

overpass (1931) , around Forest Hills Cemetery, VFW Parkway and 

West Roxbury (Route 1) , West Roxbury-Turtle Pond Parkway around 

Roslindale and Jamaicaway around Jamaica Pond. 


Population continued to rise, making greatest strides in 

the early depression years 1930-35, gaining nearly 15,000 in 

that five year period alone. Much of this rise may reflect 

the growth in the black population which began to move into 

Roxbury in the 1930s. Roxbury's population peaked about 1935 

when it reached 225,634. 


Continued suburban expansion in West Roxbury through 

mid-20th century with extensive development along MDC parkways 

between Brookline and Stony Brook Reservation to the crest of 

Monte and Bellevue Hills, primarily as modest single family 

housing. Civic and commercial centers remained at Roslindale 


Square and Centre Street West Roxbury with highway activity 

along Route One at Charles River to Dedham (Spring Street). 

Affluent residential development likewise expanded around 

Jamaica Plain on Great Hill (Pond Street) and along the 

Jamaicaway to Perkins Street with institutional development on 

adjacent hills. Affluent residential growth in the Jamaica 

Plains and Roxbury highlands was limited by increasing urban 

development with apartment blocks on Warren Street above Grove 

Hall to Humbolt Avenue and along Centre and South Huntington 

Avenues at the base of Parker Hill. Both commercial and 

industrial activity remained stable. In contrast, the Boston 

institutional belt continued to expand along Huntington and 

Brookline Avenues to the Fenway with major regional hospital and 

educational facilities at Longwood Avenue. 


By 1915 much of Roxbury's industrial development had already 

taken place, though there were scattered examples of new 

industrial construction for warehouse storage facilities, 

garages, and the like. Major new plants in Roxbury appear to 

have been few, but included that of the Brookline electrid 

parts firm, Holtzer-Cabot in 1915; the Aberthaw Company, the 

pioneer builder in reinforced concrete and an R.C.A. Victor 

plant on Amory Street. 


Residential: Residential development was limited to the 

southernmost sections of the city. The area along Washington 

Street as far south as Clarendon Hills was built up with modest 

hip and gambrel-roofed Craftsman and Colonial Revival two-family 

houses and three-deckers; similar construction characterizes 

much of Hyde Park and Roslindale. Somewhat more ambitious 

residential construction occurred along Spring Street in West 

Roxbury and south along Centre Street in Germantown. Craftsman 

and Colonial Revival two-family houses along with a number of 

similar one-and-a-half and two-story single family houses and 

a few simple bungalows were built. Picturesque Tudor, Georgian 

and Dutch Colonial Revival single-family houses, with brick, 

stucco and half-timbered trim, some of considerable size and 

pretention, line the parkways of West Roxbury, most of these 

built in the 1920s. Other areas which saw limited construction 

in the Early Modem period are the neighborhoods surrounding 

Franklin Park where shingled Colonial Revival and Craftsman 

three-deckers were constructed along Hyde Park Avenue. At least 

a few apartment blocks probably date from the 1920s, particularly 

those along Blue HillAvenue; these are four and five story blocks 

of masonry construction with stoclc concrete Beaux-Arts, Adamesque 

and Georgian Revival detailing. 


Institutional: The most significant group of institutional 

structures dating from the Early Modern period are the dozen 

or so elementary schools built in the outer neighborhoods of 

the area. Most of these are simply-massed masonry blocks, 

two to two-and-a-half stories tall on a raised basement, but 

many retain well-crafted Moderne detailing at entrances and 

rooflines. The outstanding example is the Mary Curley school 

in Jamaica Plain, a concrete building with incised Art Deco 

detailing of very high quality. Also dating from the period 

are several churches in Hyde Park and Roslindale in simplified 

Gothic Revival designs as well as a well-detailed Georgian 

Revival District Courthouse at Forest Hills and a Moderne 

concrete stadium at Franklin Park; a few period structures 

appear to survive in the Franklin Park Zoo. These are unusual 

in that they appear to be concrete structures dating from the 

1930s and modelled on the section-designed structures at 

London's Regent's Park Zoo. Also built were several synagogues 

including a particularly well-detailed Beaux-Arts example on 

Seaver Street. 

Commercial: Most commercial construction consists of one- 

story cornerstore blocks in brick and concrete at West Roxbury, 

Roslindale, Forest Hills and as infill in established retail 

centers at Dudley Station and on Centre Street in Jamaica Plain. 

Several movie theatres survive including the Moorish Franklin 

Park and the Loew's in Roslindale. 

Industrial: Industrial construction consisted primarily of 

utilitarian masonry warehouses and a few more stylish concrete 

and masonry factory buildings along the Stony Brook. 


There has been no substantive survey in either Roxbury or West 

Roxbury . 

Industrial (Roxbury): Despite the devastation that has 

occurred along the Boston and Providence Railroad corridor since 

1968 -- and it probably wiped out half of Roxbury's major 

historic industries -- Roxbury retains eight breweries (or 

portions of breweries), several of which are landmarks in their 

own right. Those for which NR designation should be considered 

include all four on Heath Street: Highland Spring, John Alley, 

American Brewing, and Roxbury Brewing. In addition, the Halleck 

Street group should be included (A. J. Houghton and the 

Burkhardt Brewery stable). NR consideration should also be 

given to the Roxbury Gas Light Company, gasholder on Massachusetts 

Avenue and the Louis Prang factory on Roxbury Street. The 

industrial district around Hamden and George Streets also deserves 

further study, particularly the Pearson Cordage Works (67 Kemble), 

Mechanics Iron Foundry (38 Kemble) and the Hall Treadle Works 

(152 Hampden) . 


(West Roxbury) : Of West Roxbury ' s two breweries, one has been 

nominated (nomination pending), and the other, the Franklin 

Brewery on Washington Street should also be considered eligible. 

B. F. Sturtevant won a national reputation for blower motors; 

its 1870s plant on Williams Street is largely intact and should 

be further studied, as should Buff & Buff, a manufacturer of 

surveying instruments (329 Lamartine) whose late 19th and early 

20th century equipment is apparently largely intact. 

Although the MBTA Orange Line stations are presumably due to be 

demolished, all should be considered NR eligible and a record 

made. Also of some interest, though probably not slated for 

demolition, are the Roslindale and Egleston Square substations 

(4228 and 3025 Washington Street). 

XI. SOURCES 

Boston Redevelopment Authority Neighborhood Planning Program, 

Jamaica Plain ; Roxbury , West Roxbury (3 pamphlets : Boston 

1977). 

--. ., - 

Boston 200 Corp., Jamaica Plain; West Roxbury (2 pamphlets: 

Boston, 1976). 

Drake, ranc cis ~amuel, The Town of Roxbury; Its Memorable Persons 

and -.-- - Places. . . (Roxburv. 18 /8) . 

Ellis, ~harles ~ a ~ The o , is tor^ of Roxbury Town (Boston, 1847) . 

Museum of Afro American History, MBTA Southwest Corridor Project 

Archaeological Reconnaissance Survey (Part One) (1979) 

Roxbury Citizen, Roxbury Centennial Edition, 1846- 1946 oxb bur^, 

26 October 1946). 

Warner, Sam Bass, Jr., Streetcar Suburbs, the Process of Growth 

in Boston, 1870-1900 (Cambridge, 1962) . 

--------------- , The Discarded Suburbs : Roxbury and North 

Dorches ter , 1800- 1950 (Boston, 1961) . 



Whitcomb, Harriet Manning, Annals and Reminiscences of Jamaica 

Plain (Cambridge, 1897) . 


MHC - RECONNAISSANCE SURVEY REPORT 

Date: December, 1980 Community: South Boston 

I. TOPOGRAPHY 

Originally a peninsula of about 600 acres separating Boston 

Harbor and South Bay from Dorchester Bay. It was connected 

to Dorchester (of which it was a part until 1804) by a neck 

of land which includes Andrew Square and what was formerly 

Washington Village. The peninsula was marked by several 

ponds, streams, and swamps, none of which survive today, and 

several prominent peaks, most of which have since been 

leveled. Dorchester Heights, once composed of two hills, 

East and West, has been reduced to Telegraph Hill. Bush Tree 

Hill, at Independence Square, is the only other prominence 

of which any sign remains. In the 1890s the eastern end of 

the peninsula was linked to Castle Island by Marine Park, 

while the flat industrial land northeast of First Street was 

largely the result of filling in the last quarter of the 19th 

century. By 1910 filled land had swollen the size of South 

Boston to 1333 acres (slightly over two square miles). 


Originally part of Dorchester grants (1630) called Dorchester 

Neck with Boston division at Fort Point Channel. Annexed 

to Boston (1804) as South Boston with boundary along 9th 

Street extended (1855) to include Washington Village (Andrew 

Square area) with boundary approximate at Washburn Street. 

Final annexation of Dorches ter (1870) absorbs previous 

division lines as part of Boston. Extensive filling creates 

wharf district in Boston Harbor along Summer SLreet and 

Northern Avenue (1895) and connected Castle Island with South 

Boston (1527). 

111. HISTORICAL OVERVIEW 

Urban industrial community adjacent to central Boston. 

Originally a peninsula between Dorchester Bay and Fort Point 

Channe1,with reported native fishing site at spring near L 

Street Beach. Initially part of Dorchester granted as 

pasture lots during mid-17th century called Dorchester Neck 

with slate quarry on Telegraph Hill. Several large farmsteads 

formed during Colonial period along axis of Dorchester-Emerson 

Streets with Revolutionary fortification site on Dorchester 

Heights of national significance, and suspect late 18th century 

brick mansion on K Street. Developed as part of Boston urban 

real estate venture with original street grid along West 


Broadway, including some surviving Federal period row houses 

on Emerson Street and historically important early Catholic 

burying ground and chapel on Dorchescer Street. Development 

of Boston tidelands as fringe district during mid-19th 

century with welfare institutions on City Landssite (now 

Independence Square) and industrial district of iron and glass 

works along Fort Point Channel with surviving period turnpike 

village around Andrew Square. Status residential area 

originally on W. Fourth Street with well-preserved district of 

Greek Revival houses, shifted to crest of E. Broadway and 

Telegraph Hill during Victorian period with brick row houses 

in Boston bow-front style. Commercial focus developed along 

W. Broadway and Dorchester Street with multi-s tored business 

blocks, including notable High Victorian Gothic example with 

polychrome stonework, and several well-preserved Panel Brick 

corner blocks along axis of E. Fourth Street. Residential 

density increased during late 19th century from two to threestory 

multiple family row housing throughout area, with brick 

Mansard rows around Dorchester Heights and wooden threedeckers 

around peripheral fringe, including many examples of 

formative types. Entire district developed as neighborhood 

parishes with many examples of period churches in Late Gothic 

design. Full potential of development realized by early 20th 

century with parkland beltway around Dorchester Bay along 

Columbia Road including period recreational buildings of 

municipal design and landmark Neoclassical tower on Dorchester 

Heights. Fort Point Channel area developed with extensive land 

fill along Summer and Congress Streets with bridge connections 

to Boston business area, including several surviving examples 

of Chicago type lift-spans, and notably well-preserved district 

of period warehouses of substantial design and detail, and 

remarkable example of early electric power station at Boston 

Edison plant of monumental Neo-classical design. Later development 

of Northern Avenue includes Fish Pier complex, U. S. Navy 

depot with extensive warehouse buildings of architect design, 

and early tourist seafood restaurants . Little growth during 

Early Modern period with exception of municipal projects around 

Dorchescer Bay, including early public housing at Harbor 

Village and autoparkway at Columbus Circle-Old Colony Boulevard. 

At present much of South Boston residential fabric remains ins 

table, but neglected structural condition with serious 

conservation problems of institutional buildings. Industrial 

activity along Fort Point Channel was expanded into fringe 

residential area, destroying much of original housing stock, 

while Summer Street warehouse district is gradually undergoing 

residen~ial and commercial conversion as high income housing 

area, with potential loss of historic period details. 


IV. CONTACT PERIOD (1500-1620) 


Peninsula location in Boston Harbor with probable trail 

from mainland (Dorchester) following course of Dorchester- 

Emerson Streets around Telegraph Hill with suspected branches 

to tidewater fishing sites along K Street and West Broadway. 

V. FIRSTPERIOD (1620-1675) 


Native trails apparently improved as highways to 

Dorchester Neck with primary axis along Dorchester-Emerson 

Streets to harborside. 

Population: 

No resident population until 1673 when first house erected 

by James Foster, followed by Blake House in 1680. 


Dorchester Neck granted as grazing land to individual owners 

during mid-17th century with slate quarry located on flarik of 

Telegraph Hill (Broadway & F Street). Native fishing area 

reported as "Powow Point" (L Street Beach) apparently during 

early settlement period. 


Availability of land fur pasturage a primary reason for 

settlement of Savin Hill, Dorchester to the south, and land 

use solely for chis purpose until 1670s. Some slate quarrying 

apparent by that date. 

VI. COLOiu'IAL PERIOD (1675-1775) 


Highways remain from 17th century with Dorchester-Emerson 

Streets as main road to Dorchester Neck. 

Population: 

Very little growth. Number of families increased from 3 

about 1700 to 12 by 1775 with 9 dwellings at the latter date. 



Large farmsteads created on Dorchester Neck from grazing 

lands by late 17th century with houses along Dorchester- 

Emerson Streets. During Revolutionary War Telegraph Hill and 

Nook Hill (W. Broadway areaj used as important fortifications 

during Battle of Dorchester Heights (1776) with brestworks 

surviving until early 19th century (now Thomas Park sitej. 

Evidently most farmhouses on Neck destroyed during War, 

although documentation is not specific. 


Farming and grazing land exclusively, with presumably 

slate taken for local use. 

VII. FEDEnKAL PERIOD (1775-1830) 


Colonial roads of Dorchester-Emerson Streets remained in 

place. Opening of South Boston toll bridge (1805) from 

Boston South End extends street grid across Dorchester Neck 

with Broadway as principal axis. Dorchester Avenue turnpike 

(1805) constructed from bridgehead south across tideflats to 

Dorchester mainland with free bridge extension to Boston as 

Dorchester Avenue (1828). Omnibus route from Boston established 

along Broadway (1829). 


Twelve families in 1775 rose to 60 families by 1804, date 

of annexation to Boston. Between 1810 and 1825, population 

up 416 percent. By 1830 it had reached nearly 3,000. (These 

figures do not include Washington Village, not annexed to 

Boston until 1855, though the population of this small community 

does not appear to have been extensive.) 


Colonial farmsteads rebuilt during late 18th century along 

Dorchester Neck. Urban street grid created on Nooks Hill with 

opening of South Boston Bridge (1805) and Dorchester Turnpike 

between A-F Streets with commercial axis along Broadway and 

residential axis along W. Fourth Street. Fringe activities 

located around Fort Point Channel including iron glass and ship- 

yards. Secondary focus developed around turnpike junction at 

Washington Village (Andrew Square) with Dorchester Street. 


Additional street grid platted on eastern Dorchester Neck 

around City Lands (1822) from G-P Streets along axis of 

original Emerson Street and Broadway. Fringe institutions 

located in City Lands area include House of Industry, House 

of Reformation and Insane Hospital. 


Little growth of moment until annexation in 1804 and 

construction of South Boston Bridge in the same year. 

Although Dix and Brinley chemical works established prior 

to annexation, major industrial development not begun until 

about 1810. 

Cyrus Alger arrived 1809 and c. 1814 began the ironworks 

(later South Boston Iron Company) which dominated the iron 

foundries and industrial life in South Boston's first half 

century, leading development of Foundry Street area. Despite 

a brief hiatus caused by the War of 1812, first glassworks 

and shipyard also established in this period -- the three 

industries which would dominate growth in this period. 

Thomas Cains, the pioneer flint glass manufacturer who 

began operations in 1812 (at B and 2nd Streets), sparked 

several important competitors, though the firm outlasted 

them all, remaining in operation into the 1870s; Wheelwright's 

shipyard, also begun about 1812 at the foot of Dorchester 

Street, in the 1820s under Noah Brooks developed a national 

reputation and one of the largest yards in the Boston area. 

Brickmaking also carried out in this period with kilns 

located in the B, C, and 4th Streets block. 


Residential: Only a handful of houses stood at South 

Boston prior to its annexation in 1804. With the construction 

of the South Boston Bridge in 1805, limited residential 

development began: still, only a few houses were built during 

the period. A fair number of these apparently were constructed 

of brick and at least one substantial, three-story brick house 

of the period survives, at 5th and K Streets. Several other 

brick end chimney houses are known and at least a few, enlarged 

later in the 19th century with additional upper stories, stood 

into the early 20th century and may still survive. A few twin 

rear wall chimney Federal houses are recorded along with at 

least one highs tyle Federal end-chimney hip-roofed house with 

a monitor (Noah Brooks House, c. 1825). 


VIII. 

Institutional: The most significant institutional 

structure of the period is St. Augustine's Chapel (1818), a 

small brick building with lancet windows, important as the 

first Catholic Church building in Boston. South Boston is 

notable for at least one other early Gothic Revival church 

among the half dozen well-detailed and ambitious churches 

built there before 1830: St. Peter and St. Paul (burned 

1848), a cruciform plan structure with lancet windows and 

Gothic detailing, may date as early as 1830. Other churches 

built included St. Matthew's (Georgian, c. 1817) and the 

Phillips Church (1825), a high style FederalIGreek Revival 

structure with a freestanding Doric portico and two-stage 

octagonal belfry; none survive. Also built in the period were 

two monumental municipal buildings, the Houses of Industry and 

Reform, identical FederalIGreek Revival buildings, three 

stories tall with hip roofs and pedimented central pavilions 

(18 ). 

Commercial: At least one commercial block of the Federal 

period is known: the Brinley Block, a three-story brick 

structure built c. 1812. 

EARLY INDUSTRIAL PERIOD 


Street system remained from early 19th century with 

conversion of Broadway and Dorchester Avenue omnibus routes 

to horsecar lines (1858). South Shore railroad corridor to 

Boston across Fort Point Channel from South Boston with Old 

Colony (1845), now Old Colony Blvd., and New York Central 

(1855), now Midland Branch to Boston hiharf Company. 


With the opening of the North Free Bridge in 1828, residents 

of Boston began moving to South Boston in large numbers. 

Between 1830 and 1850 population rose rapidly from 2,200 to 

13,309. Even more marked, however, was the rise following the 

introduction of the street railway system (1854) and the 

movement out of the Fort Hill district in Boston (c. 1859 

and later). The industrial expansion of the Civil War period 

also attracted large numbers of skilled factory workers. 

Between 1850 and 1870, the population tripled, reaching 

39,215 in the latter year -- an average growth rate of nearly 

1300 people a year. 



Development of South Boston continued through mid-19th 

century. Connnercial focus centers around Broadway and Dorchester 

Street base of Telegraph Hill with status residential district 

along W. Fourth Street and crest of E. Broadway with row houses. 

Secondary development on Telegraph Hill (Dorchester Heights) 

with opening of Boston reservoir (1849) around Park Street. 

Fringe industrial activity expanded around Fort Point Channel 

area along railroad corridor from Washington Village (Andrew 

Square) with focus of development at Cork Village (Dorchester 

Avenue) and Boston Wharf (Granite and Midway Streets) by mid-19th 

century. 


South Boston in this period was dominated by the iron 

foundries and machine shops. By 1850 Cyrus Alger's South Boston 

Iron Works was the largest foundry in the country, while the Bay 

State Iron Company at City Point was the largest and most 

extensive manufacturer of railroad iron in New England. A 

number of foundry and machine shops were begun in the 1830s, 

following Alger in the Foundry Street area. After the arrival 

of the Old Colony Railroad in 1844 two locomotive works also 

were erected. The Globe Locomotive Works (1846) produced the 

borer for the Hoosac Tunnel. Cotton and Hill's Chain factory 

(begun c. 1830 at 3rd and F Streets) was a landmark industry of 

the period. During the Civil War these foundries and machine 

shops were given a tremendous boost, attracting skilled mechanics 

to South Boston. 

Shipyards shared the glory of East Boston's yards. Harrison 

Loring's City Point Works, in successful operation through the 

1890s built record-breaking clipper ships including, in 1851, 

"The Northern Light." 

In the early 19th century there were numerous fresh-water 

springs on the peninsula. One, at D and 2nd Streets, which for 

many years supplied ships in port, became the site in 1826 of 

the Boston Beer Company's brewery, an industry which remained 

important throughout the century. They were joined by rum 

distilleries, like Luther Felton's 1839 factory given added 

impetus in 1854 by Crimean War demand. 

In 1861 the first petroleum refinery in Boston was established 

by Stephen Jenney & Company. Other oil works followed, while 

the New England Felt Roofing Company took advantage of the coal 

tar residues of the adjacent South Boston Gas Light Company. 


The Boston Wharf Company, founded in 1836, was a pioneer in 

reclaiming the mud flats to the north of the peninsula, though 

this work was not completed until the last quarter of the 

century. For many years, nearly all the lumber and sugar 

brought into South Boston was stored on Boston Wharf property. 

City water introduced from Cochituate Works in 1849 to 

reservoir on Telegraph Hill. South Boston Gas Works established 

1852. 


Residential: Some vernacular Greek RevivalIFederal workers' 

housing dating from early in the period survives at Andrew 

Square with a few isolated examples of more substantial, 

porticoed Greek Revival housing of the same date (1830-40) on 

A Street and elsewhere, but most surviving Greek Revival 

structures appear to date from the 1850s. Many of these are 

quite substantial in character with heavily-scaled and elaborate 

trim of acanthus and frets at the entrance; a few retain 

original cast-iron fencing. Most have sidehall plans although 

a number of double houses (a few of them bowfronts in brick) 

were built, with at least a few brick Greek Revival rows. By 

the mid-century, a variety of picturesque styles were represented 

at South Boston. Linden Street was developed with well-detailed 

Gothic Revival cottages (of which only one survives with its 

original drip moldings, bargeboards and finials intact) while 

around Telegraph Hill and along Emerson Street more substantial 

Italianate villas were built. Later in the period elaborate 

villas in mansard and Stick Styles were still being built in 

South Boston. Brick Italianate rows began to appear c. 1850 with 

increasing numbers of wood and brick mansard-roofed rows 

constructed toward the end of the period. 

Institutional: That South Boston remained an affluent and 

ambitious area through the end of the Early Industrial period is 

evidenced by the numiier of well-detailed and up-to-date 

institutional structures built there during the period. A 

number of churches were built including Gothic Revival examples 

in wood (a few of which survive with later siding) and stone 

(St. Peter and St. Paul, 1853-extant). A Lyceum (Greek Revival/ 

Italianate, 1845), and several private schools operated, includ- 

ing the Perkins Institute, located in a large brick cupolaoed 

Greek Revival building constructed as the Mount Washington Hotel 

(1838 demolished). Also built were Carney Hospital (Second 

Empire/Italianate, 1865) and Fort Independence (Greek Revival, 

1833). 


Commercial: A few 1850s three-story brick commercial 

blocks stand on West Broadway. 

Industrial: A few utilitarian four and five story brick 

structures may date from the period, including the Boston 

Brewing Company which retains what may be a unique granite 

sign with raised letters. A small industrial building on 

Ellery Street may relate to a period foundry. 



Streetcar service extended on local routes from Broadway 

line with loop along 6th-8th Streets around Telegraph Hill to 

7th and D Streets across Dover Street bridge to South End by 

late 19th century as electric trolley. for^ Point Channel 

gradually filled with bridges from Boston at Broadway (1871) 

and lift-spans at Congress, Surmner (1900) and Northern Avenue 

(c. 1915) to Boston -Wharf Company lands with original draw- 

bridges snill inract, although only Summer Street at Reserved 

Channel still operable. Xetropolitan Park Commission (MDC) 

landscaped boulevards around Dorchester Harbor to Marine Park 

as Columbia-Farragut Roads by 1890s. 

B . Population : 

Post-war five year period 1870-75 witnessed South Boston's 

greatest population rise of nearly 15,000 people. Thereafter, 

this growth slowed, and after 1895 the city's population began 

a decline which accelerated in the 1910-15 period. South 

Boston's peak population was reached in 1910 at 71,703, somewhat 

less than twice what it had been in 1870. The same period also 

witnessed a marked change in employment patterns. At the start 

of the period, hundreds had been employed in local mills, 

foundries, and factories; by 1900, thousands were employed in 

shops and stores, mostly in the city proper. The foreign-born 

population, long dominated by the Irish, grew appreciably after 

the Great Boston Fire, forcing laborers into the western 

sections of South Boston. As Lithuanians, Poles, and Italians 

moved into areas west of Dorchester Street, the Irish commur~ity 

moved further east . 



Increasing residential density across area with multiple 

family housing types around periphery of Telegraph Hill 

(Dorchester Heights) to Dorchester Bay waterfront by early 

20th century. Status district remains on crest of E. Broadway 

and Dmhester Heights (Park Street) with commercial focus along 

W. Broadway and Dorchester Street during late 19th century, and 

secondary center at Andrew Square. Reformation of fringe 

activities with clearance of City Lands institutions and Cork 

Village (Dorchester Avenue) along Fort Point Channel, replaced 

with Boston Wharf Company land fil-1 along Summer-Congress Streets 

and Northern Avenue (1895) with warehouse-factory district and 

shipping basin at Reserved Channel area adjacent to central Boston 

business district. Dorchester Harbor waterfront developed as 

recreational parkland at Carson Beach and Marine Park by early 

20th century. 


The Late Industrial Period witnessed the marked decline and 

cessation of many of South Boston's hitherto dominant industries. 

The increasing expense of shipping coal and iron from the south 

and west caused most of the iron foundries to close by the mid- 

1880s. The last glassworks closed about 1880, and the chain 

works, a victim of newer, mechanized competition, closed about 

1875. Many machine/tool factories remained, however - among them 

the nationally known Walworth Manufacturing Company, leading 

developer of steam heating systems and one of the largest 

manufacturers of pipe tools. The S. A. Woods Machine Company, 

Russell Boiler, Hersey Manufacturing (sugar cube machines, water 

meters), and Whittier Machine became principal elements in this 

now dominant industry. By 1904 the Gillette Safety Razor Company 

had begun its extensive South Boston plant, based on the 

revolutionary notion (perfected by MIT graduate, William Nicker- 

son) of a disposable razor blade cut from strips of thin sheet 

s tee1 . 

Beginning in the 1880s the filled land to the northwest 

along Fort Point Channel saw increasing activity with the 

construction of warehouses, machine shops, a sugar refinery, 

two elevator manufacturers, docks, etc. Between 1895 and 1900 

South Boston became the center of the wool trade as new warehouse 

and dock space became available. In 1901 historian Toomy 

described the city as "on the eve of another period of industrial 

importance on made land," a period welcomed by the construction 

of Commonwealth and Fish piers, 1913-14. 


South Boston was witness to major engineering works in the 

last decades of the period, among them Boston Edison's 

monumental L Street plant, crucial to the expanding electric 

supply of the utility; and, built in conjunction wiLh ttie new 

South Union StaLion, the 1898-99 rolling lift bridge, said 

to have been the largest of its kind yet built. 


Residential: In this period, South Boston begarl to take on 

the densely-settled character it now has. Many multiple-family 

dwellings were constructed, most of these three-deckers, although 

early in the period, mansard-roofed brick and wooden rowhouses, 

three stories tall, were the most common type constructed. In 

addition to three-deckers (which were built primarily in the 

Queen Anne and Colonial Revival styles) a number of more substantial 

Panel Brick and brick Queen Anne rowhouses were built in the 1880s 

and '90s, with many particularly well-detailed examples located 

on Broadway. Fewer single-family houses were constructed, although 

a few ambitious Stick, Second Empire and Queen Anne houses were 

built around Telegraph Hill early in the period with more modest 

Queen Anne and Colonial Revival single-family houses in scattered 

locations constructed somewhat later. Toward the end of the period, 

shingled Colonial Revival and Craftsman two-family houses began to 

be constructed in numbers in the City Point neighborhood. 

Comparatively few apartment blocks were built. 

Institutional: Several churches and at least one school in 

the High Victorian Gothic style were built in South Boston; a 

number of these still stand, including the school on I Street, one 

of the few remaining educational buildfigs in this style in Boston. 

A few wooden Stick/Victorian Gothic churches were also constructed 

and may survive with later siding. Other surviving period 

structures include the Bigelow School (Renaissance Revival, c. 1900), 

South Boston High School (neo-Classical, c. 1895) , and several 

well-detailed Victorian Gothic and Renaissance Revival fire 

stations. Perhaps the most spectacular municipal building of the 

period was the Head House at the Marine Park (E. M. Wheelwright, 

c. 1893) , an elaborate, half- timbered Tudor Revival building. 

Commercial: South Boston's commercial center along Broadway 

includes rnany well-preserved commercial buildings from the Late 

Indastrial period including several 1670s structures, both High 

Victorian Gothic and Neo-Grec in style, as well as a later neo- 

classical temple-front bank and several four and five story Panel 

Brick commercial blocks of the 1880s and early '90s. Around the 

turn of the century, a few tall comercial blocks in Renaissance 

and m e m e Revival designs with extensive cast metal trim were 

constructed. In addition, many fine three-story Panel Brick 

cornerstore blocks were constructed as part of residential 

speculative construction south of Broadway; these form a unique 

and well-preserved grouping. 


Industrial: Many utilitarian industrial structures in 

brick were constructed early in the period around Fort Point 

Channel and along First Street with a number of particularly 

well-preserved and carefully detailed seven and eight story 

corbelled brick warehouses of the 1880s and '90s on A Street. 

Later in the period, some reinforced concrete buildings were 

built. Most notable is the monumental Renaissance Revival L 

Street Boston Edison plant (1903) with a rusticated central 

arch and flanking copper light standards of Piranesian scale. 



Trolley service continued through mid- 20 th century with 

subway route from Boston under Fort Point Channel-Dorches ter 

Avenue (1926) with stations at Broadway and Andrew Square. 

Old Colony Blvd. constructed as auto parkway by Metropolitan 

District Commission (1932) on railroad way with overpass at 

Columbia Circle. 


South Boston had reached its peak population about 1910. 

By 1930, in concert with Boston proper, the peninsula's 

population was declining rapidly, losing over 13,600 people 

in the 20 year period. South Boston's population in 1930 was 

58,039. Poles, Lithuanians, and Italians now made up a 

substantial part of the district's foreign-born population. 


Gradual decline of commercial and residential growth during 

mid-20th century. Limited development along Columbia Road 

parkway (Carson Beach) and Farragut Road (Marine Park) with 

three-decker housing and clearance of Andrew Square area along 

Old Colony Blvd. or Harbor Village housing project (1938). 

Industrial development continued along Boston Wharf Company 

lands with U.S. Navy depot and Fish Pier on Northern Avenue 

and Sumer Street with multi-storied warehouse construction. 

Parkway extended from South Boston to Castle Island as William 

Day Blvd. around Pleasure Bay (1927) with recreational 

facilities. 



Boosters had long predicted that the flats terminal area 

would become the port of Boston's major comercial center, 

though this did not really happen until after World War I. 

During the war, the Army built a major supply depot with over 

a mile of berthing space and the largest overseas pier in the 

U. S . , while the Naval drydock adjacent was said to have been 

one of the largest in the western hemisphere. Eleven wharves -- 

four belonging to the Commonwealth and four to the New York, 

New Haven & Hartford Railroad added to South Boston facilities, 

though development of the Commonwealth flats behind the piers, 

begun in the 1880s, had still not been completed by 1930. 


Residential: Little residential construction took place 

although in some sections, notably along Day Boulevard, a 

number of modest Craftsman two-family houses finished with 

shingles or stucco, were built in the 1920s. 

Institutional: Most institutional construction took place 

around Old Harbor with various M.D.C. related structures, such 

as the Tudor Revival L Street Bathouses, built in the 1920s. 

Several schools were constructed in the 1930s along with a 

Georgian Revival Health Clinic (1926). Commonwealth Pier was 

completed as were various small stuccoed Craftsman service 

buildings and one monumental, eight-story neo-Classical 

industrial building at the Terminal Street Army Base. 

Commercial : Modest one and two story commercial buildings 

were built on West Broadway and along Dorchester Street in the 

1920s. 

XI. SOURCES 

Gillespie, Charles Bancroft, comp., Illustrated History of 

South Boston, (South Boston, 1900) . 

Simonds, Thomas C., History of South Boston, Formerly Dorchester 

Neck. (Boston. 1857) . 

Toomy, ~bhn 

(Boston, 1901) . 

Watkins, Laura Woodside, "Glassmaking in South Boston," Antiques 

48 (1945), pp. 140-43; 216-18. 

Woods, Robert A. and Albert J. Kennedy, The Zone of Emergence, 

(Cambridge, 1962) . 

MHC Reconnaissance Survey Town Report: Boston 

J. and ~dwakd P. B. Rankin, His tory of South Boston. . .

XII. SURVEY OBSERVATIONS 

There has been no survey of South Boston as yet. 

Industrial: There are important industrial survivals from the 

Early Industrial period in South Boston, many of them deserving further 

study if not NR status. Among these are the machine shop of the Norway 

Iron Works, an impressive 2-1/2-story gable-roofed structure hidden behind 

a complex of more recent buildings at 383 Dorchester Ave.; the Boston Beer 

Company's malt house (D and 2nd sts.); the Bay State Distillery 

(H and 2nd sts.); the South Boston Gas Light Co.'s plant (West First and 

Dorchester St); and the American Steam Safe Co. factory at N and 7th streets. 

Highly unusual is the survival of an apparently key building in Jenneyls 

Kerosene--Oil Works on First Street, the firdt petrolemi refinery in.Boston. 

The brick mansard building at 290 West First, located on the opposite side 

of the street from the bulk of the plant, was apparently erected when the land 

on which it stood formed a wharf into the water which lapped the edge of 

First Street. 

Much of South Boston's industrial building stock dates from the last 

quarter of the 19th century or the first two decades of the 20th. A good 

part of it is due to the Boston Wharf Company, responsible for probably 

most of the standing buildings between Northern Avenue and Richards Street. 

The office of this company is located in a key building at the corner of 

Melcher and Summer Streets; opposite, in the curve of Melcher street is 

the original plant of the New England Confectionery Co. The area between 

Museum Wharf and this complex deserves further study and could well become 

part of an NR district. Other important complexes from this period 

include Grueby Faience Co. (564-570 East First), Boston Plate 6 Window Glass 

Co. (40 Wormwood), the Ipswich Mills (Grant Gear, B and West 2nd sts.), 

the Robert Bishop Cotton waste factory (116 Tudor and adjacent bldgs.), 

and the five Wormwood buildings, a huge factory complex built as a unit 

between Wormwood and Binford ts. in the late 1890s by the Factory Buildings 

Trust to house multiple industries, with a self-contained power plant. 

Both the Edison Electric Illuminating Co. and the Boston Elevated Railway 

built major power stations adjacent to one another on First Street and close 

to coal wharves. Both survive and merit further study. To the east, Walworth 

Manufacturing Co. operated a multi-acre plant. Though the main plant has been 

demolished, a machine shop on the opposite side of the street survives as 

885 East First Street. Virtually the entire plant of the S.A. Woods Machine Co., 

an internationally known manufacturer of heavy woodworking machinery, survives 

on Damrell Street. Other machine manufacturers with national or international 

reputations were the Hersey Mfg. Co. (E and West Second Sts.) and the Moore 

and Wyman Elevator and Machine works (Granite and Richards ~ts.). To supply 

the breweries, distilleries, and sugar refineries, there were at least two 

active cooperages, Dahlquist (18-28 West Third) and Brooklyn Cooperage 

(360-368 C St.). Although the main complexes have been demolished,related 

buildings deserving further study may exist for both the American Sugar Refining 

Co. (Granite and West Second sts.) and the Downer Kerosene Oil Co. (100 West 

Second). A key employer even today in South Boston, the source of a major 

industry and of a new grooming style, is the Gilette Safety Razor plant. 

Although the earliest building in the complex dates from about 1906, most post-date 

World War I. 


South Boston also has an unusual collection of bridges, most of 

them over Fort Point Channel. Of these, perhaps the most important, the 

Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridge (1899) carrying the main railroad lines into 

South Station, was said to have been the largest of its type when built. 

Both the Summer Street Bridge over Fort Point Channel and the L Street Bridge 

over the Reserved Channel are retractile draw spans, designed to move on steel rails 

with a diagonal motion. The latter bridge, built in 1892, seven years before 

the Summer Street span, is said to be the oldest moveable bridge in Boston. 

The Summer Street Extension, from Fort Point Channel east, was built in 1899 

to take the place of Congress Street as a main thoroughfare. Its truss 

bridge over the Midland Division tracks was said to be the largest bridge 

of its kind in the county, though at that time it apparently included four 

spans. 



Date: 1981 Boston Harbor Islands 

I. TOPOGRAPHY 

A series of glacial drumlins located in the depression of the 

Boston Basin subsequently isolated by rise of sealevel in post- 

glacial period (4,000-2000BP) with extensive tidal flats exposed 

at low tide. The structural geology of the Harbor Islands 

follows the regional NE/SW trend of the Boston Basin with exposed 

bedrock at the eastern fringe of the Brewsters where glacial 

overlay has been eroded. This outcrop is apparently linked 

with the granitic bedrock of the Quincy formation and possibly 

indicates that all the Harbor Islanib have a bedrock core overlain 

by glacial debris. In consequence, the glacial islands have 

suffered from extensive erosion of headlands and have altered 

shape within historic period records. 


Originally occupied in 1620s preceding formal political claims. 

Deer Island, Long Island, Spectacle Island and apparently Castle 

Island acquired as part of Boston 1635. Rainsford Island 

originally to Edward Ransford (1636) by the Massachusetts Bay 

Colony, acquired by Hull (1641) and later to Boston (apparently 

by 1794). Lovell Island originally to Charlestown (1636) with 

Georges and Gallops Islands originally to Hull, all included to 

Elisia Leavitt (1767) of Hingham and later acquired by Boston 

(apparently by 1794) with official purchase 1825. The Brewsters, 

Calf Island, Green Island, the Graves originally to Hull (1663) 

and later acquired by Boston (1848). Thompson Island originally 

occupied by David Thompson (1626); granted to Dorchester (1635), 

and later acquired by Boston (1834). 


Isolated fringe institutional, navigationa1,military and 

recreational activities on the eastern periphery of metropolitan 

Boston. Located at the entrance to Boston Harbor,a sequence of 

large glacial islands with native and European site potential as 

Contact Period fishing stations, and rocky ledges on seaward side 

of Massachusetts Bay with large bird colonies. Originally 

settled from Plymouth Colony in early 17th century with English 

trading stations on Thompson and Georges Islands (apparently 

house sites destroyed by beach erosion). Most islands retain 

authentic mid-17th century toponymy from occupation as private 

estates. Grazing agriculture primary economic use by Boston 

area towns, with planting lots granted on Long and Lovell 

Islands. Fortification systems initially constructed on Castle 

Island with elements of First Period installation subsequently 


altered during Colonial and Federal periods as Fort Independence. 

Deer Island utilized as prison camp for Natick Indians in King 

Philips War with native land claims through late 17th century. 

Navigational beacons established on Brewster Islands by Late 

First Period with present Boston Light from late 18th rebuilding 

as authentic Federal period structure. Quarantine hospital 

initially located on Spectacle Island during Early Colonial 

Period and relocated to Rainsford Island by mid-18th century 

with subsequent rebuilding in Late Industrial period (now 

demolished). During early 19th century inner islands used for 

military and navigational sites with surviving Federal Period 

lighthouse on Long Island and granite Fort Strong on Georges 

Island. In addition,several of the islands were used as 

barracks encampments during Civil War at Long, Gallops, Lovell 

and Castle Islands both for Union and Confederate forces. 

Increasing location of fringe institutional activities during 

mid-19th century with Farm and Trade School on Thompson Island 

(now demolished), Suffolk County House of Correction at Deer 

Island with original brick octagonal building still in use, and 

Welfare Hospital on Long Island with subsequent Early Moderne 

Buildings still in use. Related Industrial Period cemeteries 

were located on Rainsford, Long, Thompson and Castle Islands. 

Other period fringe uses were sited on Spectacle Island with 

slaughterhouse (now in ruins) and protective granite seawall on 

Lovells Island. Recreational use of inner islands is reported 

during 19th century with resort hotels at Spectacle, Long and 

Gallops Islands (all demolished), while outer Brewsters were 

developed as private estates (now in ruins). Military sites 

were again selected during Spanish American and First and Second 

World Wars with installations of original period design notable 

at Fort Standish on Lovell Island with later construction at 

Fort Strong on Long Island, Fort Dawes on Deer Island and gun 

batteries on Outer Brewster Island (now all abandoned). During 

Early Modern period inner islands gradually connected to Boston 

mainland by auto parkways with causeways to Castle and Deer 

Islands and recent bridge to Long Island. Present development 

of Boston Harbor Islands relates to recreational use for 

metropolitan area,most notably on Thompson Island with limited 

ferry service. Except for lighthouses and fortifications, most 

historic period structures have been destroyed, with vandalism 

and arson a major problem for remaining sites, especially in 

regards to archaeological potential. 


IV. SOURCES 

Crosby, Irving B. Boston Through the Ages (Boston, 1928). 

Kales, Emily and David, All About the Boston Harbor Islands, 

(Boston, 1976) . 

Kaye, Clifford A., The Geology and Early History of the Boston 

Area (U.S.G.S. Bulletin 1476, 1976). 

LaForge, Laurence, Geology of the Boston Area, (U.S.G.S. 

Bulletin 839, 1932). 

Shurtleff, Nathaniel J., A Topographical and Historical 

Description of Boston. (Boston, 1870). 

Snow, Edgar Rowe, - The Islands of Boston Harbor, (Boston, 1971) . 

Sweetser, M. F., King's Handbook of Boston Harbor, (Boston, 1888).

MHC Reconnaissance Survey Town Report - Secretary of the ...

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